Off the beaten path
Samurai street and houses in Shimabara, Nagasaki-prefecture
Samurai was a term for the military nobility in pre-industrial Japan. The Samurai Houses in
Shimabara along the old Samurai street nearby Shimabara Castle were built in 18th century.
Three samurai houses, the Yamamoto residence, Shinozuka residence and Torita residence,
are opened to the public exhibiting the life style of old Samurai.
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Showano-machi, in Oita-prefecture
Time back Japan’s 60 years ago, one of worthwhile place to visit in Bungo-takada, Kunisaki
Peninsula, Oita-prefecture. The era that lasted till about 30 years ago in Japanese history,
Bungo-takada was the most prosperous in Kunisaki Peninsula for over 300 years from the
Edo period up to 1900.
Here remains various old structures and remnants of regional Japanese.
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Harajiri Waterfalls, in Oita-prfecture
It is called Niagara Falls of Japan. The Ogata River, running through the center of the
Ogata plain in Oita Prefecture, flows furiously down a cliff and creates Harajiri Falls.
The falls, 120 meters wide and 20 meters tall, are selected as one of the best 100 falls in
Japan. Lava flows produced by the great eruption of Mt. Aso accumulated and created
Harajiri Falls.
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Usa Shrine, Oira-prefecture
One of the most beautiful Shrine in Japan, the head shrine of Hachiman Shrine that is
composed 44,000 shrines that dedicated to the Hachiman Deity.
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Kumamoto Castle, Kumamoto-prefecture
One of the three great castles along with Nagoya Castle and Osaka Castle and one of the
100 best places in Japan to view cherry blossoms. The current castle was built in 1601 by
Kiyomasa Kato, a great commander and took 7 years to complete. The 980,000-square-meter
premises are dotted with many memorable view such as donjons, turrets, turret gates, castle
gates and long fences.
This castle is particularly famous for its beautiful curving stonewall called “Musha-gaeshi, which
were built to defend against invading armies. The stone walls have been designated a National
Historic Site and 12 buildings in addition to the Uto-yagura turret have been designated National
Treasure.
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