tohokuakita
Kakunodate
Kakunodate is a former castle town in Akita Prefecture, in the Tohoku region of northern Honshu, laid out in 1620 and known for its samurai district, one of the best preserved in Japan.
The samurai district, Kakunodate
- Prefecture
- Akita
- Region
- Tohoku
- Journeys
- One of our journeys
overview
Black wooden fences, a broad avenue, and old trees over the samurai houses.
The town was planned in 1620 by Ashina Yoshikatsu, who moved it from the hill where his castle had stood to the flat ground below and divided it with a firebreak: samurai to the north, merchants and craftsmen to the south. The plan endures today. North of the old line, on Bukeyashiki-dori, the avenue is broad and shaded, and the houses of the samurai stand behind black board fences, gates and gardens, much as they did when the Satake Kita family governed the town from 1656 to the end of the Edo period.
Several of the samurai houses are open, furnished with the armour, scrolls and household things of the families who lived in them, and one is still the home of descendants of its builders. Above them grow the weeping cherries for which the town is known, said to have come from Kyoto in the seventeenth century, their long branches falling over the fences. Along the Hinokinai River a further two kilometres of cherry trees line the embankment. The Japanese call the town Michinoku no Kokyoto, the little Kyoto of the north.
Kakunodate is also a town of makers. Its craftsmen work the bark of the mountain cherry into tea caddies, boxes and trays polished to a deep sheen, a craft called kabazaiku that samurai of the lower ranks took up in the late eighteenth century to supplement their stipends. Akita is rice and sake country, and the table is generous: kiritanpo, rice pounded onto cedar skewers and simmered in a broth of Hinai chicken, smoked pickles called iburigakko, and the fine, silky Inaniwa udon of the south of the prefecture.
Our tours stay overnightOur tours visit for the dayOn a Custom Tour of Japan
see and do
What to see in Kakunodate
Bukeyashiki-dori
The main street of the samurai district, broad and straight, lined with black fences, tall gates and old firs and cherries, with the open samurai houses along it and in the lanes beside it.
The Aoyagi House
The largest of the open houses, a compound of gate, residence and storehouses with the family's armour, swords and scrolls, along with later treasures that include early gramophones and cameras.
The Ishiguro House
The house of one of the highest-ranking families of the district, still lived in by their descendants, who show visitors the reception rooms, the garden and the family's documents and old maps.
The smaller samurai houses
The houses of the Iwahashi, Kawarada, Odano and Matsumoto families, homes of the middle and lower ranks, which show the difference rank made in the size of the gate, the rooms and the garden.
The Kabazaiku Denshokan
A museum of the cherry-bark craft at the edge of the samurai district, where craftsmen demonstrate the work and the best pieces of past makers are shown.
The weeping cherries
Some four hundred weeping cherries grow in the samurai district, many of them protected as a national natural monument, their branches hanging almost to the ground over the black fences.
The Hinokinai River embankment
Two kilometres of cherry trees along the river on the western edge of the town, planted in 1934 to mark the birth of the Crown Prince.
The Nishinomiya House
A merchant family's compound in the Tamachi quarter, its main residence and storehouses built between the Meiji and Taisho eras, now home to the family's collections and a shop of crafts.
Ando Jozo
A miso and soy sauce brewery founded in 1853, whose brick storehouse contains a formal reception room of fine joinery; the miso and the pickles are still made in the old way.
Dakigaeri Gorge
A gorge of the Tama River about twenty minutes from the town, its water a clear emerald green beneath a red suspension bridge, with a level path along the cliffs towards a waterfall.
experiences
The best of Kakunodate
A samurai house, explained
The samurai district with a guide who reads the houses for you: the rank in a gate, the purpose of a room, the family stories that the labels leave out.
Kabazaiku with a craftsman
A morning at a kabazaiku workshop, watching the bark of the mountain cherry cut, shaped and polished, and choosing a tea caddy made by the hands that show you.
The sake of Akita
A tasting at a sake brewery of the Semboku plain, where the rice and the water are both of the valley, followed by dinner of kiritanpo and Hinai chicken.
The quarter in the evening
The samurai district after the day visitors have gone, the avenue quiet and the old samurai houses dark behind their fences, for guests who stay in the town.
plan your visit
Kakunodate on a journey through Japan
- How long to stay
- One night is enough for the samurai district and its museums, and two let Kakunodate join Lake Tazawa and the springs of Nyuto Onsen, which lie close by.
- Getting there
- By the Akita Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kakunodate in about three hours, without changing trains. Lake Tazawa is about thirty minutes away by car, Nyuto Onsen about an hour, and Akita city about forty-five minutes by Shinkansen.
- Pairs well with
- Kakunodate, Lake Tazawa and Nyuto Onsen make a natural few days in Semboku, and the road north over the Hachimantai plateau leads on to Lake Towada and Oirase.Nyuto OnsenLake TazawaOirase and TowadaAkitaHiraizumiGinzan Onsen
where to stay
Luxury hotels and ryokan in Kakunodate
The ryokan we choose is Kakunodate Sanso Wabizakura, a ryokan of ten rooms, each room with its own onsen bath, a short drive from the samurai avenue, the merchant storehouses and the river embankment. The day is given to the samurai district, and the evening to the bath of your own room.
For an onsen ryokan, the springs of Nyuto Onsen and the plateau above Lake Tazawa are each within an hour, and many guests divide their nights between the town and the mountains.
journeys
Tours of Japan that include Kakunodate
Open a journey below for its route, its dates and its price. On dates of your own, a Custom Tour of Japan can bring you here and anywhere else in Japan you would like to go.
questions
Kakunodate: questions answered
Is Kakunodate worth visiting?
Yes. Its samurai district is one of the best preserved in Japan, the samurai houses still standing behind their black fences on a plan of 1620, and it lies beside Lake Tazawa and Nyuto Onsen, two of the loveliest places in Tohoku.
How many days do you need in Kakunodate?
One night for the town itself, and two if you add Lake Tazawa and Nyuto Onsen.
How do you get from Tokyo to Kakunodate?
By the Akita Shinkansen Komachi from Tokyo station, about three hours direct to Kakunodate, from which the samurai district is a few minutes by car.
Why is Kakunodate called the little Kyoto of the north?
For its old townscape and its weeping cherries, said to have come from Kyoto, and for its samurai district, which keeps the plan of a castle town of the early Edo period. In Japanese the name is Michinoku no Kokyoto.
What is kabazaiku?
Kabazaiku is the craft of working the bark of the mountain cherry into tea caddies, boxes and trays, polished to a deep reddish sheen. It came to Kakunodate in the late eighteenth century and the town remains its home.
Can you stay in the samurai district of Kakunodate?
Yes, in a few small hotels within the district. Our journeys stay at Kakunodate Sanso Wabizakura, a ryokan of ten rooms a short drive away, each room with its own onsen bath.
Which Luxury Japan Travel journeys include Kakunodate?
The Autumn Leaves Tour of Northern Japan spends nights in Kakunodate. On dates of your own, a Custom Tour of Japan can include Kakunodate too.
Can Kakunodate be part of a private tour of Japan?
Yes. The Custom Tour of Japan is created around your party alone, on your dates, with your own Tour Director, and it can go anywhere in the country, Kakunodate included. If you would rather travel independently, the Expert Japan Itinerary plans every day for you.
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Every place in Tohoku
Kakunodate, planned for you.
Tell us when you would like to travel and what draws you to Kakunodate, and we will answer with the journey that suits you best: one of our published tours, a journey of The Private Collection, or a Custom Tour of Japan created around your party alone.