Okura

The Asagiri Bridge was set when the Asagiri River was improved in 1928. The newel posts of bridge parapets are made of granite. Route 2 goes through the bridge. The words “Asagiri-bashi” were carved on the southwest newel post in hiragana and on the northeast one in Chinese characters (kanji).

This is a big stone monument erected in 1869 and is said that it worshipped the soul of people who were shipwrecked on Okuradani beach. The chant was carved in a characteristic tail script of the Nichiren sect. The population believes in that and is living peacefully.

People living along the Highway set wing walls called Udatsu to fire control. Each house designed their own udatsu.Uduki-literal rabbit and moon-designed relief of a rabbit on the full moon.

This house is a two wooden house which has low second floor and has the front door parallel to ridge position. This out wall of first floor is covered in paneling. The lattice windows and log stockades remind us of the old town houses at Okura. An old ware house for rice was at the back of premises with buildings. This is a merchant house built before 1850 and they sold rice tenant farmers made and others.

We can see a lot of efforts to keep old streets and houses to use continuously them for every day life, business and activities at Okura. They manage Akashi house of Kobe gakuin University Area study Center and use old Oshio house for the presentation of study of University and interaction with the population. Machi no Terakoya Helps people regardless of generation to interact. They converted a mud-walled store house into Wakura and use as “the classroom to learn right know ledge about healthy family”.They reused another old house as a restaurant.

Uduki’s family business had been fishermen’s boss for a long time.They performed fishing at Maiko beach in presence of Meiji Emperor during he visited Hyogo prefecture in 1884. They made roof tiles too. This building was designated for Akashi city Urban Scenery Formation Important Architecture since it shows many traditional designs of Okura style.

The statue of Shoki is put on the roof first floor of Hattori house which is in front of Hachiman shrine. Someone says that Shoki is a God of Taoism widely believed in China and famous for answering prayers for protecting from evil spirits. Others say that Syoki means chance to win through play on words and set it for good luck.

The God is Ochi-no-Masumi and his son Ochi-no-Takeo enshrined his father’s soul, they say. This has been the extra shrine of Inazumi shrine. There are many haijo-ketsu-cup shaped pit in the stone washbasin.At the end of Edo period training of gunnery was conducted at the forest of this shrine.

Once there were a fire bell tower and a volunteer fire brigade station here. Hachiman-hama battery was in the south of the shrine. It is as old as Maiko battery of Akashi domain which was designed by Katsu Kaishu at the end of Edo period. The ruin of Maiko battery was designated as National Historic Site.

Tatami store Keeps a clothes box of the public bath Hayashida tatami store keeps a clothes box and a scale which has gradations of kilogram and kan-Japanese old unit-of Asagiri-yu that gave up it business around 2003. It keeps carefully the model of Asagiri-yu that is a graduation project of the student living in kobe. See page 20.