Inuyama castle town developed
as s town for merchants who specialized timbers produced at the upper stream of
Kiso river, and cottons, rice and oil produced on farms in Nobi plain.
The population of Inuyama city is 75,500 and its area is 75 k?.
™Okumurafs house
The Okumuras was a merchant in
Edo era.
The current house was built soon after a big fire in 1842,
which is now used as a Japanese-French
restaurant.
™Nakasendo highway and
Ichirizuka milestone
There were 5 main highways
connecting between main big cities in Edo era.
Nakasendo highway was one
of them and it connected between Tokyo and Kyoto through mountain side.
The street in front of Okumurafs house is a part of old Nakasendo.
Ichirizuka milestones were built on the both sides of the main highways
every ichiri (4km) as landmarks for walking travelers.
™Yozaka ( L-shaped road to defend against
enemies )
150 years ago Inuyama castle was
surrounded by moat and wall.
Inuyama castle had 8 gates. One of them was
here (Yozaka).
This street is L-shaped on purpose to defend against
enemies rushing in to the town.
The road joints with the main road not in
T form, which aims to make enemies hesitate to enter, as though it looks like a
dead end.
™Jinai-cho (temple-ward)
When they made this
castle town, 4 temples were arranged here near the gate as a military base, and
they hoped enemy would not attack the temples because of Buddhas
dignity.
™Old
Isobefs residence (former Kimono merchant)
Isobefs residence was built
in the last period of Edo era.
Isobe family made their fortune as a
Kimono merchant, but after the world war?they dealt in tea.
In 2004,
Inuyama City bought them for preservation.
They restored their
appearance in the middle of Meiji era.The frontage is 6.8 meters wide by 53
meters long.
There are main house, courtyard and warehouses, which is a
middle scale merchant house in Inuyama.
™Donden-kan palace
Inuyama festival features 13
floats with mechanical puppets.
Four of festival floats are exhibited
here.The floats are made up of three decks. The tallest float is 9
meters.
On the top stage there are puppets and the middle level of the
float is for puppeteers.
Children wearing gorgeous Kimono gKin Jubanh sit
on the bottom of the float and play Japanese flute and drum.
™Inuyama Artifacts
Museum
Inuyama festival dates from 1635,
as the dedication to the Harituna Shrine to invoke the recovery from
conflagration.
One of 13 festival floats is displayed here and you can
see tradition and history of Inuyama festival.
At the night of the
festival, all the floats have 365 of paper lanterns lit up, meaning 365 days a
year, and go on a parade all over the town.
™Mechanical Puppet Exhibition
Room
There are two kinds
of mechanical puppets.
One is called gZashiki karakurih and the other
gYama karakurih, that is, puppets are mounted on festival float.
Here,
the original mechanical puppets that were used during the previous festivals are
exhibited.
™Nintoshu produced by Kojima Family
Nintoshu was introduced to Japan
by Korean Correspondence Group called Chosen Tsushinshi in 1598.
It is a
medical alcoholic beverage made from Japanese honeysuckle.
During Edo
period, Naruse Family ( the lord of Inuyama castle )presented it to Tokugawa
Shogunate every year.
The Kojimas has been producing Sake in order to
maintain tradition for
generations.