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

 Segawa inn town is in Minoo city, Osaka prefecture.  Minoo city is famous for Minoo waterfall, but that’s way up in north of the city.  Segawa inn town is in south of the city along Hankyu railways Minoo line.  This is one of inn towns that I had hard time in my research. There are very little information online. And Google map does not show much about Segawa inn town. I see very few shrines and temples. Segawa shrine is probably the most notable one. Otherwise, I see Osaka university and Osaka International airport(not Kansai International airport) nearby. If anybody lives in Minoo or if you are a Minoo native, I would love to hear from you.  As other inn towns have, there are some old houses, probably dating back to late Edo or early Meiji period. But according to my research, most part of the inn town is just like many other places of late 20th century Japan.  When I see old houses, I smile and get excited.  Former Segawa honjin inn is now a drivin...

Kooriyama inn town is located in Ibaraki city of Osaka prefecture, not to be confused with IBARAKI PREFECTURE in east of Tokyo! On top of it, there are several “Kooriyama” throughout Japan, and this is one of the least known ones.  When I researched Kooriyama inn town, other than preserved Honjin inn, all I found were ancient tombs, and the former residence of Yasunari Kawabata, known for his novel “The Dancing Girl of Izu”.  Are there anything else we can find? Let’s get on the trail!  First, about 1.5km from Kooriyama inn town Honjin, there is a monument of 1571 battle of Shiraigawara. This was a historical battle of Murashige Araki, Kiyohide Nakagawa vs Koremasa Wada and Shigetomo Ibaraki, which was recorded in the First European Descriptions of Japan(1585). The monument is right behind the fence at the center of the picture, So you cannot see it on this picture, unfortunately. I circled red on ancient tombs. At least there are 4 ancient tombs, probably built in 4-6th ...

 After Yamazaki, here comes Akutagawa inn town, in Takatsuki city.  The city itself is known for a medieval Christian lord, Justo Ukon Takayama, who reigned this area and was eventually expelled from Japan to the Philippines by the order of lord Hideyoshi Toyotomi. Ukon was exiled because of his Christian faith, which Hideyoshi and Ieyasu Tokugawa restricted and banned.  Here is the route of Akutagawa inn town. The yellow arrow I drew is the route. Apparently, there is an exhibition about Akutagawa inn town and Saigoku Kaido route at Takatsuki Shiroato museum, which is located in where Takatsuki castle used to be. It will be interesting to find out how big the inn town was, and the locations of east and west guards were. According to the map of Akutagawa inn town guide map, the actual inn town begins at around the right curve from Kyoto side on the first picture. Soon we see the sign of “the street corner of Akutagawa Revenge”. To make a long story short, in early Edo tim...