Kurashiki · JP

Tanokuchi Historic Townscape (Ryūmairi Pilgrimage Route)

In the Kojima peninsula of Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, a quiet streetscape preserves the memory of one of western Japan's great popular pilgrimages. Tanokuchi's Ryūmairi Sandō was the southern approach route walked by thousands of Edo-period pilgrims who traveled by boat across the Seto Inland Sea to worship at both Kotohira-gū in Shikoku and Yuga-san on the mainland — the so-called ryūmairi, or 'dual shrine visit.' Today the route carries no crowds, but traditional merchant houses with namako walls, bug-cage windows, and fine wooden lattice still line the road from the port toward the mountain, alongside stone markers, a monumental torii, and rare Bizen-yaki guardian lions that face out to sea toward Shikoku.