Honai Machinami in Yawatahama

A street of picturesque buildings from the Edo period

Anonymous Feb 15, 2013 - 1 min read

The Kirimancho sake brewery in Honai, Yawatahama

The facade of the Shiraishi Wataro Yokan. The building was built in the 1890s as a place where foreign specialists would feel at home.

The view of an Edo-period house from the Yokan next door. The projecting porch marks it as the home of a samurai family.

The merchant's house next to the Yokan has a slightly convex roof. This style is rarely seen outside of Kyoto.

Behind the main street is a maze of alleyways with fine views over Honai. In the foreground, an old lady pumps water from a well.

The area is conspicuous for its many red brick walls.

There are cats everywhere. These cats seem to have achieved a degree of social hierarchy.

This old soy sauce factory has a rather stylish sign. Unfortunately my lens had soup on it from the chanpon I ate for lunch.

These old wooden buildings have a certain elegance in their proportions.

Another cat enjoying the last rays of the sun on a window ledge.

A bridge over the Miyauchi River near the sea.

The Miyauchi River runs through the middle of Honai in Yawatahama, a little district that accumulated great wealth from trade and technology in the Edo to the Meiji periods. Vestiges of its glory remain in the form of picturesque old buildings, some of which are open to visitors. It’s pleasant to wander the quiet roads and lanes of Honai, seeing the buildings from different perspectives.

Anonymous @rod.walters__archived

I was born in Bristol, England, and I came to Japan in 1991 … which means I’ve lived half my life in this island nation on the other side of the world. The theme of my career in Japan has been communication. I started as an English teacher, and moved into translation as I learned Japanese....