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

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...

丸子宿(Mariko inn town) was also written as 鞠子宿。丸 means circle, and 鞠 means a ball. But the origin of the name Mariko has several hypotheses.  It most likely the river along the inn town has been called Mariko river, which became the inn town’s name.  Anyhow, here is the overview.  For detailed guide, refer to the reference section as I am posing the local guide map link.  This is the Edofara mitsuke, as seen in other inn towns. There is a sign for it.  This inn town still preserves fair number of old houses from 18-19th centuries.  There is a sign with detailed descriptions of Mariko inn town, in front of a little shrine altar.  Mariko river is right there.  Another sign of Mariko inn town descriptions. The one on the windows of a house is the history timeline of this inn town.  Some houses still hang up wooden place with old names of shops/businesses. Do you see there is one on middle right of the street view?  Toiyaba cargo terminal sign...

In Himeji inn town part 1, we touched the eastern part of Himeji castle town. And we encountered the wonder of two Saigoku Kaido routes.  Let’s get on the street. Here is the overview of central-western part of Himeji inn town/castle town.  This is the north route of Saigoku Kaido.  Close to the central area with arcade street. The north route of Saigoku Kaido goes straight then turns right.  South route, on the other hand, goes completely under the arcades.  The south route is now Nikaimachi business street. Nikaimachi, which literally means, “the town of two-story houses”. In castle towns, only building flat houses were allowed during Edo period. However, this Nikaimachi was an exception. This street became more popular than the primary route of Saigoku Kaido which is the north route. Eventually the south route was recognized as Saigoku Kaido.  The original Saigoku Kaido. There is a sign that explains that many people went down south then westward to Nika...