鵤宿(Ikaruga inn town): Prince Shotoku’s ancient temple

All Japanese kids learn something about price Shotoku aka prince Umayado.(593-622) He loved Buddhism so much that he founded Horyuji temple in Nara prefecture in 607. But I didn’t realize that he received a property of this area from emperor Jitoh. And he established a temple here. 

Some people say that prince Umayado has similar stories as Jesus Christ. Well, both were born in a horse barn. For me, this is “So what?”. 

Here is the overview of Ikaruga inn town located in Taishi town. 

Saigoku Kaido goes off from national R-179 here. 

In terms of scene, there aren’t many old houses and buildings. Ikaruga inn town started as an unofficial inn town, according to some sources. Taishi municipal historical museum has some exhibitions and resources about San’yodo/Saigoku Kaido Ikaruga inn town. Unfortunately the museum is closed for renewal until March 2027. 

Some old houses are there. But I can’t tell if these are of Meiji or Edo or even newer. 

Passing by a bicycle shop. 

This seems to be the center of the inn town. There is an old sign but I could not find it on the street view. Here if you go south, you will get to Taishiyama park with prince Shotoku statue on top of the mountain. At the bottom of the park, there is a folklore museum which is an Edo-period house. The house is registered as a prefectural treasure. 

Keep going westward.

These lights are 常夜灯(Joyatoh), which literally means the light of all night. All inn towns and ports used to have these lights. These particular ones are to guide travelers to Ikaruga temple. Going between these lights and straight northward, you will get to Ikaruga temple which was establish by prince Shotoku. The current 3-story pagoda was built in 1565. 

So, where was honjin? 

According to a local map, honjin VIP inn was initially located about 300m north of Saigoku Kaido, east of Saikoji temple until 1857. Then typhoons and earthquakes destroyed the building. Apparently it was an inconvenient place and eventually the honjin inn became unpopular. It was relocated to a place by Saigoku Kaido but I couldn’t locate where the new honjin was. 

Daishido and Jizodo altars. Daishi is a shortened name of 弘法大師(Kobodaishi), which is the posthumous name of a Buddhist monk 空海(Kukai: 774-835). I could not find anything to indicate whether Kukai stopped by here or not. He is known as the founder of Koyasan Kongobuji temple. 

How about jizo statue? The unit thing about this jizo is that the statue is facing north, which is apparently very rare. 

I am not sure where the inn town will end. The inn town part itself might be boring, but I would encourage my readers to check out surrounding areas as it is really historical. 

Getting to Ikaruga inn town, you will need to take a bus either from Himeji station or Aboshi station. If you are up to, you can take a walk for 30-40 minutes from JR Aboshi station. 

The next stop is 正條宿(Shojo inn town). 

References: 

Let’s Walk Ikaruga. Taishi town.(The original title: いかるがを歩こう！　太子町) https://www.town.hyogo-taishi.lg.jp/soshikikarasagasu/machizukuri/keikankeisei/keikankeisei/1666154922513.html (Accessed in 5/27/2025. In Japanese only)

Taishi Town(Hyōgo prefecture). Wikipedia.com. The original page is in Japanese: 太子町(兵庫県) https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%AA%E5%AD%90%E7%94%BA_(%E5%85%B5%E5%BA%AB%E7%9C%8C) (Accessed in 5/27/2925. In Japanese)