castle town

There was a theater named Mihaku-tei which adjoined northward this building in the Meiji period. It was destroyed on case during World War Ⅱ a fire broke out because of the air raid. The theater rebuilt in 1947 was remodeled the movie theater afterward, and rebuilt as the popular drama theater named the Hommachi Mihakukan in December 2015.

At the end of an alley in the Uo-no-tana Street Market, there is a very small modest shrine, where the goddess of water and souls from Itsukushima Shrine which has one of the three most valuable Benzaitens on Japan. As there is a well on front of the shrine it seemed to be originally a shrine for water, however now they believe in it as business goddess.

A bog fore broke out on 20 February 1949 and many stores of Uo-no-tana Street Market were burnt down. Then the Market was rebuilt. Most buildings have been remodeling and we can see few remnants in the good old days. But you can find a some old sign boards behind new ones.

This building was built in 1951 as Akashi Commerce and Industry Hall. Now it is named Rapos and familiar to residents of Akashi. This was first built as the five-story reinforced concrete structure in Akashi City and had the department store and event halls. Playground equipments were installed on the roof.

Because of a big fire in 1949, large town area of Akashi was burnt down but small area around here wasn’t. We can see somethings that were in fashion around Akashi town before World War Ⅱ, for example, the brick sidewalk around the building, outer walls decorated with beautiful mosaic tiles, the photo studio with the porch, and so on.

This area was called Sakura-machi because that was well-known for the weeping cherry tree in the middle of the Edo period. When the outer moat around Akashi Castle was filled up in 1911. Local residents transplanted the Shirakumo-zakura, white cloud cherry, here and erected the monuments carved writing by Hashimoto Kaikan.

Jodo sect Komyo-ji temple looked beautiful against the sea from Akashi Castle, so it is commonly known as Hama, beach, Komyo-ji temple. On the other hand, Jodoshin sect Asagao, morning glory, Komyo-ji temple declares that it came from the old Asagao Hermitage and is well-known for “the pond of Hikaru Genji moon viewing” in he Tale of Genji. Each of both was moved to the present place in 1619.

Ogasawara Tadamasa, the first feudal lord of the Akashi domain, built Ochaya Bridge and people could go to Nakasaki from Saiku-suji. Afterward, Matsudaira Mitsushige, the 3rd feudal lord, moved it westrard. Kinko Bridge was built in June 1911 and Inagaki Taruho family that was tied to Akashi was selected as “the Sandai Fufu”, three generation alive couples in one family, and had honor of the first crossing the bridge.

The boundary stones are installed to clarify the boundary of the land. Some of them have logos that show the ownership of the company or the city. This stone looks such boundary stone but we cannot make sure whether it’s so or not because it is half buried.

In the corner of the promises of the apartment at Nakasaki beach, there are five-part gravestones made of one stone and a small shrine for the Dragon God. Stone works were gathered together after being prayed to God or held memorial service. We can feel the atmosphere of the pre-Edo period a little in the area thanks to the small shrine.

There is the old stoned breakwater that sticks out southwest at tha Nakasaki Peninsula. This was called Higashi Hatozaki reached near the old Hatozaki Beacon in the south. Hatozaki, the cape with the gate for wave, was literal the gate in the sea.