草津宿(Kusatsu unofficial inn town): survived atomic bomb blast

Kusatsu is another unofficial inn town of San’yodo/Saigoku Kaido highway. 
While the city center of Hiroshima is as completely wiped out by the atomic bomb, most part of Kusatsu survived with minor to moderate damages. This is the reason why we still see some of pre-WWII buildings.
Of course, modernization has significantly changed its scene.  
According to a local guide map, the inn town seems to start here. Saginomori shrine on the right side, was allegedly established in 904. The main building survived atomic bomb blast, according to Hiroshima city. 
This temple, Jikouji temple, was established in 1447. The Sanmon gate survived atomic bomb blast. 

Although Kusatsu inn town survived WWII, there are very few of pre-WWII buildings.
This is Koizumi family residence. Probably this is the main attraction of Kusatsu unofficial inn town. It was build in late Edo period, and has been still in use as a sake brewery. Meiji emperor stopped by. 
Across Koizumi family residence, there is a monument that shows Meiji emperor stopped by here. This is called in Japanese, “明治天皇御幸記念碑”(Meiji Tenno miyuki kinenhi). Miyuki in this context means emperor’s journey or travel. Koizumi brewery built Miyuki gallery, named after Meiji emperor’s journey through here. Apparently there is sake tasting in this gallery. 




After crossing Miyuki bridge(now you know why this bridge is called “Miyuki”), there is information board about this area and Kusatsu inn town. 

Now crossing Hiroshima Electoric Railway Miyajima line. 
This monument is to commemorate contributions of Nishi family to this community. Bisho family were the primary physicians of Miyoshi domain, today’s northern Hiroshima prefecture. They also invested and contributed to oyster farmings in this area. 
Passing by Koduku Inari shrine on the left. This is another old shrine established in 1370. Parts of structures survived the atomic bomb blast. 
Saigakuji temple was built in a different site first. In 16th century, it was relocated to the present place. 
Ohtsurii was a well that people here used for drinking water and for extinguishing fires. We don’t know when it was dug, but this area used to be very close to the beach, so it was not easy to secure good drinking water. 
There are still some more houses that look like of pre-WWII. 
From here, the route takes a weird V-shape curve. The city websites and others feature Koizumi family residence. But don’t skip these parts as well. 
I would say that this is probably the end of Kusatsu inn town. 

Closest train stations are Hiroshima Dentetsu Kusatsu station or Kusatsu Miami station. 
 
The next stop is Hatsukaichi, the gateway to one of the most touristic sites in Japan: Miyajima. 







References: 

Jikouji(Hiroshima prefecture). Wikipedia.com.(in Japanese: 慈光寺　ウィキペディア) https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%85%88%E5%85%89%E5%AF%BA_(%E5%BA%83%E5%B3%B6%E5%B8%82) (Accessed in 10/17/2025)

Koizumi Honten Co.Ltd. Business Information in Hiroshima. Hiroshima Economic Affairs and Tourism Bureau. https://www.hitec.city.hiroshima.jp/EE/ee00224.html (Accessed in 10/17/2025)

Saigoku Kaido crossing map. Greater Hiroshima area. Hiroshima City.(in Japanese: 西国街道横断マップ　広島広域都市圏　広島市) https://www.city.hiroshima.lg.jp/kouiki/2million/1027228/1036849/1030656.html (Accessed in 10/19/2025)

Saginomori shrine. The city of Hiroshima.(in Japanese: 鷺森神社　広島市) https://www.city.hiroshima.lg.jp/atomicbomb-peace/fukko/1021101/1026920/1026921/1020855.html (Accessed in 10/17/2025)












Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

山陽道/西国街道(San’yodo/Saigoku Kaido overview)

Image
While we are still working on Tokaido chapter, I decided to start working on San’yodo/Saigoku Kaido chapter.  What were routes covering west of Tokaido prior to modern-day Japan? Which was the popular route in west Japan that people used in order to go east?  Today JR Tokaido line officially goes down to JR Kobe station in Kobe city, and Tokaido Shinkansen goes down to Shin-Osaka station. Beyond these stations, you will notice that these train line names are changed: JR San’yo line from Kobe station, and San’yo Shinkansen from Shin-Osaka station.  Old San’yodo(旧山陽道) starts at Kyoto, and goes through north shore of the river Yodo, bypassing modern-day downtown Osaka, then through Kobe, Himeji, Okayama, Hiroshima, and to Shimonoseki, with the 577km length in total. This route is actually longer than old Tokaido or old Nakasendo. Until the administrative capital was moved from Kyoto to Edo(modern-day Tokyo), San’yodo was regarded as more prestigious than Tokaido and Nakasend...
Read more

Starting the Kaido 101: Tokaido/Nakasendo-Nihonbashi(日本橋)

Image
 I wonder how many of my readers thought how long this guy’s lecture will continue.  As a visual learner, I would prefer to get the basic quickly, then as I practice, I want to go in depth.  One of the most popular trails of Kaidos is probably Tokaido. Some might say Nakasendo is arguably the best. But historically Tokaido has been a top traffic route, probably “the busiest” one. It is hard to figure out data of Edo period. One research shows that 40,000-260,000 people used parts of Tokaido, while  most parts of Nakasendo hardly reached more than 50,000 travelers. (Resource: “Main routes traffic amount n Edo period” by Ryoichi Tsuchida. 1982. 土田良一著「江戸時代における街道交通量」歴史地理学通号117  歴史地理学会編　1982年6月発行   http://hist-geo.jp/img/archive/117_028.pdf ) Today, “Tokaido” Shinkansen is often referred to as “The Aorta of Japan.  The Tokaido route consists of 53 stations(inn towns), from Edo(Tokyo) to Kyoto. Some would add 4 more stations(inn towns between Kyoto and Osaka...
Read more

Introducing old road network:KAIDO

Before traveling to Japan, it’s always good to do research about destination. Good research is the foundation of your enriched travel. However, for those who have never been to Japan, there is always the question of “Where do we start?”.  This is one of the tools I am giving you. One of things I often look for is the signs of 街道(Kaidō).  Kaidō is old highways and routes that have been used for centuries. Kaidō used to be all over, from Edo(modern-day Tokyo) to Kyoto(Tokaido and Nakasendo), to Shomosuwa(Kōshū Kaidō), to Nikko(Nikko Kaidō), to Shirakawa(modern-day Shirakawa city of Fukushima prefecture: Oshu Kaidō), and so on. These first five routes I mentioned are called Edo Five Routes, aka 五街道(Gokaido). These were officially maintained by Edo shogunate during Edo Period(1603-1868).  Here is an example of Kaido route. These bypass following link shows the route of Tokaido highway.  https://www.hiroshige.org.uk/Tokaido_Versions/Tokaido_Versions.htm  (Quoted from...
Read more