Sign in with Facebook- Join for free
- Sign In
Sign in with Facebook
Nagayamon is one of the most commonly seen traditional gates in Japan. It literally means "the gate with resident houses". It started as a gate for samurai residents but since the late Edo Period during 19th century wealthy owners of huge farmland started to build that style of gates mainly for warehouses for agricultural tools or in some part of Japan for sericulture. The gate of Shigitani Family built in mid 19th century has two rooms as residential area and one room for warehouse. The gate entrance lies between residential section and warehouse section.
Well known Nagayamon gates in Japan include: Masuda House Iwade, Wakayama, Akizuki castle, Asakura, Fukuoka, Uwajima Castle, Uwajima, Ehime, Kumamoto Castle, Kumamoto.
Updated Feb 23, 2011
Helpfulness
Gochinyorai park is a park created on the place where Seiganji Temple had originally been. In this park Gochinyorai statues the only remnant of the temple sit and an tourist information office is set up. Most of the tourist guides and leaflets are in Japanese but there are some English language leaflets available and some infos on board translated into English. So far no Chinese or Korean leaflets. I hope they will furnish them soon!
Updated Feb 20, 2011
Helpfulness
When you walk into the old highways in Japan you will encounter the place where the road shows a right-angle turn. This is called "masugata" or right-angle turn. Okabe-shuku also has such a right-angled turn at the intersection near the Okabe-Branch municipal office of Fujieda. It is built that way so that the enemy cannot easily go into the specific place.
Updated Feb 20, 2011
Helpfulness
Miwa Shrine is one of the few remaining ancient style shrines in Japan built by the wishes of Empress Kogyoku in 644. The shrine is located at the place where Mt. Takakusa the sacred mountain according to the shrine was blocked by the hill mountain. The shrine retains the ancient style of Shintoism praying directly to the sacred mountain and its triple-torii, very rare in Japan.
Written Feb 19, 2011
Address: Miwa-Aza-Sugimoto 1290, Okabe-cho, Fujieda
Helpfulness
The trail starts from Miwa Shrine and ends at Sho'ouin Temple in Okabe-Shuku area featuring beautifully built two-storied pagoda.
Length: 5.7 kilometers
Duration: About three hour walk not including rest and visiting time.
Level: D: Good for beginners but with some hard climbs. Even good for family hikes as there are some places to play along the trail.
Features: Miwa Shrine Torii, Great views, Temple of Soldiers, Tangerine and tea plantation, rustic rural landscape, Two-storied pagoda of Sho'ouin.
Ideal Hiking Season: From October through May particularly tangerine picking season around November through December.
Season to Avoid: From June through September because the weather is erratic with frequent thundershower and a bit too hot when the sun shines.
Quoted from Yamanobe trail Info Board on photo#1
"Yamanbe Trail links three districts in the Okabe area, Miwa, Hongou and Santou. The trail is lush with natural beauty and it features numerous sites of historical interest. Beds of cultivated flowers, and neatly trimmed hedges, also stud the Trail. The warms of village life permieates the air, as nature and local cultural assets are clearly lovingly tended. This care can be seen, for example, in the little hand-sewn hoods that protect and keep warm the head of the "Ojizosan" (sacred stone statues) that appear along the trail; and in the traditional night-lamps that are so carefully maintained".
Updated Jan 10, 2011
Helpfulness
The legend has it that in this bridge at Okabe Ono-no-Komachi legendary Japanese beauty and one of the finest female waka poets felt shocked to find her face mirrored in the river so exhausted and aged after being in a long trip.
Written Jan 9, 2011
Helpfulness
Sho'ouin temple is the goal of the Yamanobe Trail as well as one of the most popular places of interest in Okabe-Shuku, 21st lodging station of Tokaido Highway. The temple is best known by the two-storied pagoda constructed in 1979 well appreciated by traditional Japanese architecture buffs in Japan.
Updated Jan 9, 2011
Helpfulness
VIDEO (click)
CULTURAL ASSEST
The building is called O-hatago Kashibaya...
A hatago was a type of Japanese hotel from the EDO period....
O-hatago mean that it was a high-grade hotel...It was built almost 170 years ago in 1836..
Until 10 years ago, an old lady lived here alone...After her death, the okabe town bought this building...
The main building is a reconstruction of the old Japanese hotel at that time and also serves as a historical museum.
There are two storehouses in the Edo and Meiji eras, used as gallery and Japanese restaurant.
You can experience konnyaku and tofu making at the multi-purpose hall.
The ministry of culture has awarded this site as a CULTURAL ASSET it has also won and award by the city of shizuokaBB
In the travelog there is more information on the hatago (click)
The fee is over 15 years old 300 yen,
younger is 150 yen
Closing Days Monday in case of holidays, closed on the next day,
the year-end through New Year holidays
Opening Hours 9:00 - 17:00
There is a Guide who will take you around and explain all the details and things around the house, BUT ONLY IN JAPANESE...
Updated Jun 16, 2009
Address: 817 Okabe,Okabe Town
Helpfulness
VIDEO (click)
This is a great little tea house where you can enjoy gyokuro and powder tea with a good view of the garden and pond.
The best time is to come in the spring and enjoy the sakuras, like I did..or in the fall with the change of leaves...
Its not very far from yaizu, about 30 minutes drive up the mountains in OKABE...
Check out the travelog which describe the TEA CEREMONY
visit my INUYAMA page where I have seen one of the 3 best tea houses the URAKU-EN which is consider a NATIONAL TREASURE.
There is a 500 yen fee with tea serving in the style of tea ceremony..
Open from 10am to 5pm
Its closed....Every 4th Monday of the month..and December 28 -January 2...
Updated Jun 16, 2009
Address: 1214-3 Nyufune,Okabe Town, shizuoka
Helpfulness
Seiganji is not only famous becasue of Minatomo no Yorimoto but also for GREEN FROGS..or also called ..the mori-aogaeru, or forest green treefrog..they are designated as a PROTECTED NATURAL ANIMAL by the Municipal government......
These frogs climb up into the trees in late spring and have orgies involving one male and up to half-a-dozen females , the results of their labors taking the form of foam-like whitish-yellow egg sacks they leave attached to the tree.
When the eggs hatch, the polliwogs fall into the pond below the tree where they commence their lives. It is very important for the parents to choose a tree not only that is above the water now, but one that will be above water in a month or so when the eggs hatch.
These frogs live only in Japan. and SEIGANJI has been famous for it....
what you see in the picture is an old FOAM.....
Updated Nov 14, 2005
Reviews and photos of Okabe attractions posted by real travelers and locals. The best tips for Okabe sightseeing.
Seiganji is not only famous becasue of Minatomo no Yorimoto but also for GREEN FROGS..or also called ..the mori-aogaeru, or forest green treefrog..they are...
Our members can help!
1
Okabe is a pretty, small town in a beautiful natural setting, squeezed between hills. there are quite a few old buildings, and the pine trees that line the road which was a sign of the old tokaido are...
2
Okabe, Fujieda and Mariko, Shizuoka
Okabe is the mountaneous and rustic area known as 21st lodging station of Tokaido Highway. It is located between Shizuoka, Yaizu and Fujieda. Okabe town merged into Fujieda in 2009 but to me it is...
Build your own Okabe page
