Visited 22.05.2016 (Sun)
Remember... Day 10 was a hectic day. In the morning, I enjoyed desserts on board a sweets themed train - Fruitea Fukushima フルーティーアふくしま while commuting from Koriyama to Aizu Wakamatsu. After alighting from the train, I transferred to the city loop bus to visit Tsuruga Castle 鶴ヶ城 (Aizu Wakamatsu Castle 会津若松城). Returned to the train station to catch Torroko Aizu Roman-go トロッコ会津浪漫号 and alighted at Yunokami Onsen Station 湯野上温泉駅 to visit Ochijuku. With such a packed schedule, I needed to be cautious of the duration spent in each place to avoid missing buses and trains. At Yunokami Onsen Station, I caught the last Saruyu-go bus 猿遊号 departing at 1500 hrs. The bus ride between Yunokami Onsen Station and Ochijuku takes about 20 minutes. My plan was to return to Aizu Wakamatsu from Ochijuku directly via another bus (Rosen Kankou Bus Shirakawa line 観光路線バス) departing at 1600 hrs, which was also the last bus for the day. This implied that I only had 40 minutes to spend at Ochijuku. I was the only passenger on board Saruyu-go which had a lady conductor. Had a chat with the lady conductor during the bus journey and when she found out about my plan, she gave me excellent tips on how to best enjoy the place in the shortest amount of time. When the bus reached Ochijuku, she even alighted the bus and walked me to the main street, pointing out the places which she mentioned previously and the bus stop to board the return bus to Aizu Wakamatsu. Very touched and grateful of the help rendered!
Preservation district. Ochijuku was one of the former post towns along Aizu Nishi Kaido 会津西街道, a 130 km long road which linked Aizu Wakamatsu Castle with Imachijuku 今市宿, now part of Nikko 日光 in Tochigi Prefecture, during the Edo period. These post towns are equivalent of today's rest stations found along highways, where travellers can stop by to eat and/or find an inn to stay overnight in the past. Ochijuku was designated as a preservation district for important historical buildings in 1981 (Showa 56) and the area was restored to how it looked like during the Edo period.
Best. When I stood at the start of the main street overlooking the thatched roofed houses that lined both sides of the unpaved road, it feels like I have teleport into another era of time. Followed the lady conductor's instructions, I shuffled my feet to the other end of the main street and climbed up a flight of stairs to where a temple is located. Here, I could capture an excellent overview of the entire village at an elevation and imagine how life could have been in the past. This is definitely the best viewing spot in this village, which has been around for more than 400 years.
Shopping and eating. Spent the rest of the time here strolling along the street, popping my head into random buildings to see what they have to offer. There are about 40 buildings here, housing shops, restaurants and inns. A variety of traditional food are sold here, such as sweetfish/char grilled over charcoal, Takado Soba 高遠そば (buckwheat noodles topped with grated daikon and bonito flakes, and eaten with a leak instead of chopsticks) and Shingoro しんごろう (freshly cooked rice is wrapped onto a stick, coated with junen miso and grilled over charcoal). Was hopping to try Takada Soba here but only managed to grab a soft serve from one of the shops due to time constraint.
Also, keep a lookout for an antique post box which has been around since the Meiji era and still serving the community faithfully today. On the day of my visit, I also witnessed refurbishment works being carried out on one of the thatched roof houses. The roof is made of susuki or pampas grass and these thatched roofs keep houses cool in summer and warm in winter. Having said that, such roofs are very vulnerable to fire. 1st Sep is Disaster Prevention Day in Japan. On this day, all the water cannons in Ochijuku are commissioned for 3 minutes (at 1000 hrs) as part of disaster prevention exercise. This is a rare scene which is popular with photographers especially.
Remember... Day 10 was a hectic day. In the morning, I enjoyed desserts on board a sweets themed train - Fruitea Fukushima フルーティーアふくしま while commuting from Koriyama to Aizu Wakamatsu. After alighting from the train, I transferred to the city loop bus to visit Tsuruga Castle 鶴ヶ城 (Aizu Wakamatsu Castle 会津若松城). Returned to the train station to catch Torroko Aizu Roman-go トロッコ会津浪漫号 and alighted at Yunokami Onsen Station 湯野上温泉駅 to visit Ochijuku. With such a packed schedule, I needed to be cautious of the duration spent in each place to avoid missing buses and trains. At Yunokami Onsen Station, I caught the last Saruyu-go bus 猿遊号 departing at 1500 hrs. The bus ride between Yunokami Onsen Station and Ochijuku takes about 20 minutes. My plan was to return to Aizu Wakamatsu from Ochijuku directly via another bus (Rosen Kankou Bus Shirakawa line 観光路線バス) departing at 1600 hrs, which was also the last bus for the day. This implied that I only had 40 minutes to spend at Ochijuku. I was the only passenger on board Saruyu-go which had a lady conductor. Had a chat with the lady conductor during the bus journey and when she found out about my plan, she gave me excellent tips on how to best enjoy the place in the shortest amount of time. When the bus reached Ochijuku, she even alighted the bus and walked me to the main street, pointing out the places which she mentioned previously and the bus stop to board the return bus to Aizu Wakamatsu. Very touched and grateful of the help rendered!
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| Hopped onto the last Saruyu-go bus for the day. |
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| Retro looking interior of Saruyu-go bus. Very appreciative of the help rendered by the lady conductor! |
Best. When I stood at the start of the main street overlooking the thatched roofed houses that lined both sides of the unpaved road, it feels like I have teleport into another era of time. Followed the lady conductor's instructions, I shuffled my feet to the other end of the main street and climbed up a flight of stairs to where a temple is located. Here, I could capture an excellent overview of the entire village at an elevation and imagine how life could have been in the past. This is definitely the best viewing spot in this village, which has been around for more than 400 years.
Shopping and eating. Spent the rest of the time here strolling along the street, popping my head into random buildings to see what they have to offer. There are about 40 buildings here, housing shops, restaurants and inns. A variety of traditional food are sold here, such as sweetfish/char grilled over charcoal, Takado Soba 高遠そば (buckwheat noodles topped with grated daikon and bonito flakes, and eaten with a leak instead of chopsticks) and Shingoro しんごろう (freshly cooked rice is wrapped onto a stick, coated with junen miso and grilled over charcoal). Was hopping to try Takada Soba here but only managed to grab a soft serve from one of the shops due to time constraint.
Also, keep a lookout for an antique post box which has been around since the Meiji era and still serving the community faithfully today. On the day of my visit, I also witnessed refurbishment works being carried out on one of the thatched roof houses. The roof is made of susuki or pampas grass and these thatched roofs keep houses cool in summer and warm in winter. Having said that, such roofs are very vulnerable to fire. 1st Sep is Disaster Prevention Day in Japan. On this day, all the water cannons in Ochijuku are commissioned for 3 minutes (at 1000 hrs) as part of disaster prevention exercise. This is a rare scene which is popular with photographers especially.
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| How the post box looked like in the past. |
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Ochijuku 大内宿
福島県南会津郡下郷町大字大内
http://ouchi-juku.com/
How to get there?
(1) By bus
- From Yunokami Onsen Station 湯野上温泉駅, board Saruyu-go 猿遊号 and alight at Ochijuku.
One day free pass = 1,100 yen
Bus schedule: http://london-taxi.jp/pdf/saruyuTimeTable.pdf
- From Aizu Wakamatsu Station 会津若松駅 Bus Terminal Platform 2, board Kankou Rosen Bus (Aizu Wakamatsu - Ochijuku - Shirakawa) 観光路線バス (会津若松~大内宿~白河) and alight at Ochijuku. The bus operates only on weekends and public holidays between April and November. There are two round trips made per day between Aizu Wakamatsu and Ochijuku and it takes approx 1 hr 10 mins per one way trip.
Bus fare (between Aizu Wakamatsu and Ochijuku) = 1,200 yen
https://www.aizubus.com/sightseeing/bus/shirakawa_line
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