Hagi Castle Town (Kikuya Yokocho)
萩城下町
A World Heritage castle town that keeps its Edo-period street layout, with whitewashed samurai residences, the Kikuya House and the birthplace of Takasugi Shinsaku.
Hagi's castle town still preserves its street layout from the Edo period, and it is one of the components of the Meiji Japan Industrial Revolution Sites. In the Gofuku-cho area, the whitewashed walls and black tiled roofs of Kikuya Yokocho, Iseya Yokocho and Edoya Yokocho line the streets. Here you'll find the residence of the wealthy merchant Kikuya family, an Important Cultural Property (about 650 yen), the birthplace of Takasugi Shinsaku and the former residence of Kido Takayoshi. In the Horiuchi district, earthen walls and natsumikan (summer orange) trees create a picturesque scene, and it is best explored slowly by bicycle. The streets are free to walk. Most buildings are open roughly 09:00 to 17:00. Hagi ware pottery shops are concentrated here, so you can stop to try pottery.
Opening hours
Districts open all day; individual museums approx. 09:00–17:00
Nearby sights
- Hagi Museum
- Hagi Uragami Museum
- Hagi Castle Ruins & Shizuki Park
- Kikugahama Beach
- Hagi Meirin Gakusha
- Shoin Shrine & Shoka Sonjuku
- Michi-no-Eki Hagi Seamart
- Hagi Reverberatory Furnace