Suya-no-saka — Kitsuki's sandwich town

photo by shikabane taro · CC BY 3.0

photo by ほっきー · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wider at the top, narrower at the bottom: the slope was designed to defend Kitsuki.

Kitsuki is the only castle town in Japan with a ‘sandwich’ layout: the samurai residences occupy two plateaus to the north and south, with the merchant quarters wedged into the valley between them. Suya-no-saka, named after a vinegar shop that once stood at the foot of the slope, and its twin Shioya-no-saka show this form clearly. The gradient (wider at the top, narrower at the bottom) was a defensive choice.

Kitsuki preserves a rare urban layout: castle and samurai residences on two plateaus (north and south), separated by a valley occupied by the merchant quarters, a form that local sources call ‘sandwich’ and which, they say, has no equal in Japan. Suya-no-saka, the best-known slope in the old town, takes its name from a vinegar shop (酢屋) that stood at its foot. It is paved with stone and lined with earthen walls and dry-stone walls, and its gradient (wider at the top, narrower at the bottom) was meant to slow down any attack. In the Edo period the square at the top served as a gathering place for samurai and horses. The reconstructed castle (tenshu) stands on the original foundations of the Matsudaira domain, assessed at 32,000 koku.

ℹ️ Free to walk at any time; no ticket for the streets. Access: about 10 minutes by bus from JR Kitsuki Station to the terminal, then 6 minutes' walk. Free municipal car parks nearby.

🚉 杵築バスターミナル · 6 min walk

Sources: visit-oita.jp · ja.wikipedia.org

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