七日市宿(Nanokaichi inn town): in a town of Japanese denim wears

七日市宿(Nanokaichi inn town) is in Ibara city of Okayama prefecture. Information wise, unless you get books about this inn town or San’yodo/Saigoku Kaido highway route, there is not much you can find online. Bloggers have written about this town, but I could not find anything concrete as far as my online research went. 

Here is the overview. 

Right before entering Nanokaichi inn town, there is a monument of Hiyoshi bridge. This stone monument is commemorating the first bridge of Hiyoshibashi in 1857. There was no bridge prior to this. The current monument be was built in 1926. 
On the lower side of the satellite image, you will notice that the old San’yodo route starts with nowhere. This is because there was a boat pier for cross-river boat rides in Edo period. 


The original San’yodo merges with modern-day Saigoku Kaido/San’yodo route here. 
The blue route is 東城往来(Tojo orai highway). The actual route is very complex, so I am not digging into it in this page. 
Pre-bridge route and post-bridge route merge here. 
Nanokaichi honjin ruins monument. 
Takehaya shrine was originally established in 1001, in Mt.Mikoshi, south of the current inn town, then relocated to today’s site in 1382. 
Nanokaichi inn town appears to have fair number of old houses. 
When the width of the road changes, there is a high chance that the spot used to be one of mitsuke guard gate. Without old map such as Chugoku Koteiki in Hagi library, I can’t tell if this is the west side of guard gate or not. 
Further west, old houses continue. This is one of fun parts of San’yodo/Saigoku Kaido trail. 
Side note: as indicated in this title, Ibara city is known for Japanese denim clothing products, along with Kojima of Kurashiki, where “Big John” brand denim comes from. A few blocks off from Nanokaichi inn town, there are shops where you can purchase Ibara denim products. 
According to Google map view, this is the end of old house section. 
The complex on the right is a factory of a precision machinery company. I am not sure if the inn town went further west from this factory or not. 

Ibara railways Ibara station is only a few blocks from the inn town center. 

The next stop is Takaya inn town, the final inn town of San’yodo/Saigoku Kaido in Okayama prefecture. Hiroshima prefecture is only a step west. 

References: 

Hiyoshi bridge. Okayama Historical Civil Engineering and Modern Architecture Assets.(the original title:日芳橋 おかやまの歴史的土木・近現代建築資産) http://civil-archi.okayama.jp/hyakusen/33/ (Accessed in 7/12/2025. In Japanese)

Ibara Denim store. Explore Okayama.  https://www.okayama-japan.jp/en/spot/10871 (Accessed in 7/12/2025)

Takehaya shrine. Jinja Kensaku Okayama(the original title:武速神社 神社検索(岡山)) https://www.jinja-net.jp/jinjacho-okayama2/jsearch3okayama.php?jinjya=28871#header (Accessed in 7/12/2025)

Tojo Orai highway(東城往来) Wikipedia.com https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9D%B1%E5%9F%8E%E5%BE%80%E6%9D%A5 (Accessed in 7/12/2025. In Japanese)




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