Kumagawa Juku

Kumagawa originally was a lonely village of only about 40 houses. However Nagamasa Asano whom Hideyoshi Toyotomi had given a high position became the lord of Wakasa, when he exempted Kumagawa from taxes considering it as an important place for traffic and military strategy. Since then Kumagawa had continued to prosper and resulted in over 200 houses in the Edo era. In Wakasa district the seafood caught on the Sea of Japan had been carried to Kyoto since in ancient times. Kumagawa-juku was the important post town on the Wakasa highroad which was one of the routes to Kyoto. A lot of mackerel caught there had been carried from Wakasa to Kyoto since the latter part of 18th century. And therefore the Wakasa highroad came to be called the Mackerel highroad. Kumagawa-juku is designated as one of the National Preservation Districts for Groups of Historic Buildings. You may still feel the atmosphere of the Edo era while walking around the town with no electric wire or telephone pole. The murmur of Mae-kawa River running through Kumagawa-juku is also attractive.

50 min. by train from Kyoto Sta. of JR Kosai Line, get off at Omi-imazu Sta., 30 min. by bus (JR Bus Jakkoh Line) from there, and get off at Wakasa-kumagawa bus stop.