Old Routes of Japan: Tracking down Japan off the beaten path from the eyes of a Japanese native

Hatsukaichi(廿日市) means “the market of the twentieth of the month”. Namely, there used to be a market in the twentieth of every month.  Today, there are very few things that remind us of old good Hatsukaichi inn town. The inn town suffered from a devastating fire during Second Choshu Expedition in 1866. The fire was set by Choshu domain army(Today’s Yamaguchi prefecture), in order to prevent Tokugawa shogunate army from marching westward, or at least slow them down.  We barely see what good old Hatsukaichi inn town used to be.  When I cannot figure out where the inn town began, I usually pick up a starting point at random, by how roads are curving or narrowing down.  Sometimes local guide maps available online has indications and hints.  There are a couple of places on east side of this inn town that can be an indicator of the east side of inn town gate. From Google map and its street views, the road is narrower after this intersection than prior to the intersect...