【Old Japanese Houses】「Naragesyuku」a famous building in Japan that can be viewed for free.

「Naragesyuku」a famous building in Japan that can be viewed for free.

An inn town that flourished in the Edo period

Narage-syuku, located in Kaminoyama City, Yamagata Prefecture, was a prosperous place during the Edo period.

There are four buildings in this place that you can see for free!

I’ll introduce them one by one.

First house: Yamada-ya

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This house was called Yamadaya.

This building is divided into a storehouse and living space.　The building has two floors, and you can even climb up to the second floor!

The storehouse is also a library where you can take a break.

It is a beautiful building with a big roof and white walls, and it is recommended to see it from the outside!

2nd house Daikoku-ya

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There is a Japanese-style room in the front and a kitchen in the back.And the walls are decorated with the tools of old life!

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This roof was designed so that the ninja could see all the way to the top so that there was nowhere to hide.

Third house: Shonai-ya

This building is the oldest building in the area.The fact that several Japanese-style rooms are connected to each other shows that they were used by people with high positions.

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Inside the building, you will find firefighting equipment that was used in the past.

On the right of the photo, lowered on a beam, are the shoes that people used to wear.These footwear are made by drying rice stalks and weaving them together by hand.

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This shoji window opens and closes not horizontally, but vertically.　The reason for this is to prevent the door from being opened from the outside when the enemy invades.

The reason for this is that it takes longer for an enemy to try to get in than it does to open the door sideways.

4th house: Takeda-ke

This building was once used as an inn.

Upon entering the building, there are two Japanese-style rooms on the left side.ehind it is a Japanese-style room with a sunken hearth, and next to it is a kitchen for cooking.

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In the earthen hallway, old farming tools are displayed.

Many of the old houses in Naragesyuku are “Magari-ya（bent houses,” and almost all of the buildings introduced here have this shape.

A house that has both a human living area and a space for keeping farm horses is called a Magari-ya.

House 5: Takizawa-ya

Only the fifth building, the last one I’ll introduce, requires a fee to enter.Here, a guide explains about the buildings inside.

The fee will be 220 yen for adults and 50 yen for children.But please note that explanations are in Japanese only.

This wooden door is designed for a person to enter and exit while riding a horse.

This is the door for people.　It’s made lower than normal, but the reason for that is to buy time for the enemy wearing the helmet to enter.

This photo is a scene from the days when this place was still a prosperous inn town.　There are only a few houses left now, but there were many old houses in this era.

There are not many inn towns of this size in Japan, and they were quite prosperous in those days!

If you have a chance to visit Japan, please come and see for yourself!

Location and information on the Narage-syuku

Address	1759-1 Narage jyoubaba, Kaminoyama City, Yamagata Prefecture
Opening hours	9：00〜16：45
regular closing day	Wednesday　12/29
Access	15 minutes by car One hour and 40 minutes on foot.