10 A Townscape of Two-Tiered Udatsu Pillars

Until the mid-1950s, this was a flourishing townscape, home to merchants wealthy from tobacco and raw silk who vied with each other to build of udatsu (short pillars). The udatsu here are unusual compared to others in Japan in that they are two-tiered, with the first half lower than the second, and feature incredible plasterwork of pine trees, hawks, turtles, and more. There are guided town tours as well as Orimotoya, an exemplary building that has retained the appearance of its old udatsu since the Edo Period, which was rebuilt during the early Meiji era as a merchant house for a sake brewer, and is now used as a place for relaxation as well.