Aizu-Wakamatsu & Ouchi-juku

The town of the Byakkotai legend, with Tsuruga Castle and the thatched-roof post town of Ouchi-juku; add Higashiyama Onsen, Kitakata ramen and Ura-Bandai’s Goshikinuma ponds for a full Aizu trip.

Aizu-Wakamatsu sits in the Aizu Basin in western Fukushima Prefecture. It was the castle town of the Aizu domain in the Edo period and the stage for the Aizu domain’s and the Byakkotai’s tragic last stand in the Boshin War of 1868, and samurai culture runs deep here. The city centers on Tsuruga Castle with its red-tiled keep; nearby are the Byakkotai graves on Mount Iimori, the curious Sazaedo pagoda, Aizu Bukeyashiki, the Nisshinkan domain school and the old Nanokamachi-dori street, with Higashiyama Onsen to the southeast. To the south, Ouchi-juku in Shimogo Town is an Edo-period post town lined with thatched-roof houses, easily combined with the rock formations of Tonohetsuri and the thatched-roof Yunokami-Onsen Station. To the north, Kitakata is known for ramen and its kura storehouses; to the west, the First Tadami River Bridge on the Tadami Line is a famous scenic spot on this remote railway; to the east lie Lake Inawashiro, Mount Bandai and the Goshikinuma ponds of Ura-Bandai. The best seasons are cherry blossom time in mid-to-late April and autumn foliage in October–November; winter brings the Ouchi-juku Snow Festival and snowy railway scenery, and Ura-Bandai is cool in summer. From Tokyo, take the Tohoku Shinkansen about 80 minutes to Koriyama, then the JR Ban’etsu West Line about 1 hour to Aizu-Wakamatsu. Loop buses serve the city; for outlying sights, drive or use the Aizu Railway and the Tadami Line (infrequent service). Allow 2–3 days: one day in the city, half a day to a day for Ouchi-juku and Tonohetsuri, and one day for Ura-Bandai or Kitakata.

Top sights

• Tsuruga Castle (Aizu-Wakamatsu Castle) – The symbol of Aizu and the only castle in Japan with a red-tiled main tower, a stronghold that held out for a month during the Boshin War…
• Ouchi-juku – An Edo-period post-town street lined with more than thirty thatched-roof houses, where the signature experience is eating soba noodles with…
• Goshikinuma Ponds – A group of lakes and marshes created by the 1888 eruption of Mount Bandai, where cobalt blue, emerald green and reddish-brown waters shift…
• Mount Iimori (Byakkotai Graves) – The site where the young Byakkotai warriors took their own lives. The hillside has a memorial to nineteen of them, with a view of Tsuruga C…
• Sazaedo – A six-sided, three-story wooden Buddhist hall built in 1796. Its interior has a double spiral ramp where the up and down routes never cross…
• Nanokamachi Street – A Taisho-era street with a retro feel, lined with storehouses, Western-style buildings and old shops selling lacquerware and sake. It is id…
• Oyakuen Garden – A villa garden of the Aizu domain lords, featuring a stroll-style Japanese garden with medicinal herbs. It is a nationally designated sceni…
• Aizu Bukeyashiki (Samurai Residence) – A samurai residence museum that recreates the home of Saigō Tanomo, chief retainer of the Aizu domain. It shows the lives of high-ranking s…
• Higashiyama Onsen – The 'inner parlor' of Aizu, an old hot-spring street along the Yugawa Gorge said to have been discovered in the Nara period, with tradition…
• Aizu Han School Nisshinkan – A reconstructed Edo-period domain school of the Aizu clan, where the Byakkotai boys studied; try archery, zazen meditation, and painting ak…
• Fukushima Museum – The prefectural general museum beside Tsuruga Castle, offering a systematic look at the history of Fukushima and Aizu, from Jomon pottery t…
• Suehiro Sake Brewery (Kaei-gura) – A long-established Aizu sake brewery founded in 1850; its wooden brewhouse can be toured free of charge with tastings, and its café serves…
• To-no-Hetsuri – Sheer cliffs along the Ōkawa River, eroded into tower-like rock formations and designated a National Natural Monument; cross a suspension b…
• Yunokami-Onsen Station – A thatched-roof station, a rarity on the Aizu Railway, with a sunken hearth in the waiting room; it looks especially picturesque when the c…
• Ashinomaki Onsen – A hot-spring village in the Ōkawa Gorge about 30 minutes from central Aizu-Wakamatsu; the cat stationmaster at Ashinomaki Onsen Station is…
• Kannonnuma Forest Park – A small lakeside park in the mountains of Shimogo Town, where the lake reflects the surrounding autumn foliage; one of the most famous mapl…
• Kitakata Kura Town & Ramen – Home of one of Japan's three great ramen styles, with more than 4,000 preserved earthen storehouses; start the morning with a bowl of soy-s…
• Shingu Kumano Shrine Nagatoko – The broad Heian-style worship hall 'Nagatoko' is an Important Cultural Property; in autumn the 800-year-old giant ginkgo blazes gold.
• Tadami Line No.1 Tadami River Bridge Viewpoint – The classic spot to photograph trains crossing the arch bridge over the Tadami River on the Tadami Line; the scenery changes with every sea…
• Enzoji Temple (Yanaizu) – An ancient temple on a cliff above the Tadami River, one of Japan's three Kokūzō temples, with river views and the birthplace of the legend…
• Lake Inawashiro – Japan's fourth-largest lake, reflecting Mount Bandai and known as the 'Heavenly Mirror Lake'; swim and paddle in summer, and watch winterin…
• Hideyo Noguchi Memorial Museum – The birthplace and memorial museum of bacteriologist Hideyo Noguchi, whose portrait appears on the ¥1,000 note; the hearth where he scalded…
• Tenkyokaku – A Meiji-era imperial villa on the shore of Lake Inawashiro: a white Western-style building with a red roof, designated an Important Cultura…
• Mount Bandai – 'Aizu Fuji,' an active volcano whose great eruption in 1888 created the Urabandai lakes and marshes; climb it, or drive the scenic roads to…
• Lake Hibara – The largest lake in Urabandai, dotted with small islands; take a sightseeing boat for views of Mount Bandai, or go ice fishing when the lak…

Where to eat

• Takino – The originator of Aizu's wappa-meshi, serving wooden-box steamed rice and Aizu home cooking in a relocated, restored Ed…
• Misawaya – The best-known soba shop in Ouchi-juku, where the famous Takato soba is eaten with a whole green onion used as both cho…
• Shirokujaku Shokudo – Old canteen best known for Aizu's sauce pork cutlet bowl, with cutlets too large for the bowl lid, and a long-standing…
• Mitsutaya – Miso shop founded in the fifth year of Tenpo (1834), serving Aizu miso dengaku grilled over charcoal around a sunken he…
• Shibukawa Donya – Local cuisine restaurant in the former mansion of a seafood wholesaler founded in Meiji 15, serving traditional Aizu se…

Itineraries

• Aizu-Wakamatsu, Ouchijuku & Urabandai – Based in Aizu-Wakamatsu, take day trips to Ouchijuku, Kitakata, and the Goshikinuma Ponds in Urabandai.
• Tokyo, Nikko & Aizu Railway Journey – Head north from Asakusa to Nikko, travel via the Yagan Railway to Ouchijuku and Aizu, and return to Tokyo via Koriyama.
• Grand Tohoku Six-Prefecture Rail Loop – Depart from Tokyo and loop through all six prefectures of Tohoku, exploring both the Pacific and Sea of Japan coasts.