由比宿(Yui Inn Town): a cute little inn town with Hiroshige art museum

Yui(由比) inn town is another beautiful inn town by the coastline of Suruga Bay. There is a little fisherman’s port that is known for Sakura shrimp, a little cherry-pink shrimp. 

The view from JR Tokaido line is awesome, although E1 Tomari highway viaducts distracts for time to time. 

桝形(Masugata) means square, and when you see a sign that says “Masugata”, this is another term of Mitsuke. So, this is the eastern edge of Yui inn town where guards were stationed. 

Yui inn town is another one among Tokaido inn towns between Shizuoka and Tokyo, which preserves many old houses from old Tokaido time.  

There used to be 七里飛脚(Shichiri Hikyaku) office. This was a special postal service set up by certain clans. Basically it’s a special express postal service, so Hikyaku mailmen were specially equipped including swords. The one here was Kishu(today’s Wakayama prefecture) Tokugawa clan’s special postal service. 

This old house on the left is a buckwheat noodle shop, and opens only during lunch time according to their website. 

This area is the main dish of Yui inn town. On the picture, there is Yui Honjin park. As you guessed, it is Yui hinjin VIP inn ruins, but the walls and the gate are there. In the park, there is Tokaido Hiroshige museum, in which you can see famous ukiyoe art pictures of Hiroshige and others. 

Directly across the street of Honjin gate, 正雪紺屋(Shosetsu-Kon’ya) was a dye-color shop. It is a museum now and you can see what a Edo-time shop of dye color for clothing looks like. The next to the shop, there is Wakihonjin inn. 

Unkon-ya Wakihonjin inn is on the left. On the right side of the street, there is a trench made for horses to drink water and wash themselves. Now you can guess what’s next to it…see on the next picture below. 

The answer is…問屋(Toiya) which is a cargo terminal. 

This modern-looking building was built in 1900. It is a branch office of local Shimizu Bank, and it’s still operating. 

This is the west side of Mitsuke. So Yui inn town ends here. 

JR Yui station is the closest, but you will still have to walk for good 25-30 minutes. 

Plus, on your way to the inn town, there are some more old houses, that look like an extension? of Yui inn town. On the next episode, I will include these street views along with Nishi-Kurasawa unofficial inn town, a hidden gem of this area. 

Btw, the ocean view from JR Tokaido line in this area is breathtaking. 

References: 

Tokaido Highway-Yui Juku. Explore Shizuoka. Shizuoka Prefectural Tourism Association. https://exploreshizuoka.jp/en/inspirations/stories/best-picks/tokaido-highway-yui-juku/ (Accessed in 5/17/2025)

Yui-shuku. City of Shizuoka. https://shizuoka.tokaido-guide.jp/shukuba/2 (Accessed in 5/17/2025)

Yui-shuku. Sunshu Travel Japan Heritage Council Promotion Secretariat. https://www.tokaido-sunshu.jp/en/spots/2.html (Accessed in 5/17/2025)