川辺宿(Kawabe inn town): Floods destroyed the inn town completely

Seriously, I thought of skipping Kawabe inn town. However, I felt compelled to touch the reality of an inn town by the water. 

Kawabe inn town has virtually gone, not because of modernization or WWII. Shinmoto, Oda and Takahashi river merge here are n Kawabe, which caused flooding multiple times historically. The most recent one was 2018 Japan Floods. 

Look at the overview map. 

Ichiruzuka distant marker right before Kawabe inn town used to be here. 
When it comes to old houses like the ones from Edo time or Meiji period, these are probably the only ones in this inn town now. 
By the way, because of municipal mergers in 2000s, called the Great Heisei Mergers, this area, which used to be Mabi town, became a part of Kurashiki city. Yes, the same Kurashiki city which has famous Bikan historical district. 
I couldn’t tell with which temple this graveyard is associated with. There is  Byodoji temple across the street with no online data. 
Kawabe honjin ruins. Honjin was washed away by 1893 flood. 
Wakihonjin ruins. It was demolished in around 1988. 
This is the entrance to Ushitora Onzaki shrine. The shrine worships 7 gods including Susanoo and Okuninonushi. Stories of these gods get complicated, so refer to the link I posted in the end of this article. Some resources say that the shrine is Kibitsu shrine which worships Kibitsu no hiko no mikoto, the very prince whose story became today’s Momotaro.
This is Genpukuji temple of Sotoshu Buddhism. Some of blogs said that the temple was established in 1490 and became the center of flood recovery several times, but I could not find good resources to support these. 
This monument is a mystery. I couldn’t tell what is written from the picture. 


The closest train station is JR Hakubi line/Ibara railways Kiyone station. You could choose to use Ibara railways Kawabejuku station, but it’s a little bit far comparing to Kiyone station. 

The next stop is Yakage inn town. 


References: 

Kawabe Honjin(川辺本陣). Wikipedia.com. https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B7%9D%E8%BE%BA%E6%9C%AC%E9%99%A3 (Accessed in 6/11/2025. In Japanese)

Susanoo-no-mikoto. Wikipedia.com. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susanoo-no-Mikoto (Accessed in 6/11/2025)

2018 Japan floods. Wikipedia.com. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Japan_floods (Accessed in 6/11/2025)





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