Time Travel in Tsuyama: 2 Days and 1 Night Tour of Historical Roads

Ai Nishimura

Administrator of the blog "My Diary," which began in 2004. A writer who has traveled to all 47 prefectures and loves local culture and history.
Author of Shimane's "Geography, Place Names, and Maps" Mysteries (Jitsugyo no Nihonsha), My Town is the "Number One in Japan" Dictionary (PHP Institute), and Prefectures Explained in Neko Neko Japanese History (Jitsugyo no Nihonsha). Official blogger for Suntory Gourmet Guide, official top user for Retty, and official platinum blogger for Excite.

11:30 Lunch of tofu made with rich soy milk from "Hayase Tofu Shop"

We arrived in Tsuyama just before noon. First, we decided to have lunch at Hayase Tofuten, a popular tofu shop.
Hayase Foods, which has been making tofu for over 70 years, opened a shop four years ago to create a place where people could eat and buy tofu products made in the city's tofu factories. Tsuyama Joto Tofu Chaya Hayase Tofu Shop was opened by renovating a townhouse in the Joto area of the castle town into a restaurant.

Hayase Foods' tofu was created after a long process of trial and error. They tried making tofu using soybeans from all over the country, and the soybeans they finally settled on were actually from their local town of Mimasaka. Mimasaka soybeans are grown in good soil and water, and the basin climate with its large temperature differences gives them a sweet taste, making them ideal for making tofu.
A variety of tofu products are made based on "Yose Tofu," which is the core of products made from soybeans. Restaurants offer lunches filled with tofu side dishes and soy milk desserts.

Currently, the neighboring house is being renovated into a store. It will house a sweets workshop using tofu and soy milk, and also seats with a view of the garden. We are very much looking forward to the future of this store. The lunch for this day was the "Arigatou Fu Gozen" (Thank You Lunch Set).
The menu is all about tofu, with tofu deep-fried tofu as the main dish. It's a healthy lunch packed with protein, and more than 90% of the customers are women. The deep-fried tofu, yuba, and soy milk made with "sticky soybeans" are mellow and rich. And yet they have no peculiar taste, and the sweetness of the soy spreads in your mouth. Their proud yose tofu is incredibly smooth, and the sweetness is further enhanced when you pour their original soy sauce over it. Other dishes include shiraae (fried tofu with sesame sauce), thick tofu, and soy milk pudding and baked soy milk donuts for dessert, so you'll be satisfied until the very end.
Their soft serve ice cream made with soy milk is also popular. It's close to the parking lot in the Joto area, so it's a great place to stop by while walking around town.
Currently, the neighboring house is being renovated into a store. It will include a sweets workshop using tofu and soy milk, and seats with a view of the garden. We are very much looking forward to seeing what the future holds for this store.

Tsuyama Joto Tofu Teahouse Hayase Tofu Shop

13:00 Stroll through the historic streets of Tsuyama Joto Town Houses

In 1603 (Keicho 8), Mori Tadamasa was appointed to Mimasaka Province (present-day Tsuyama City) and built "Tsuyama Castle" and its castle town. The eastern side of the castle town, which stretches from east to west, is called the Castle East District, and the western side is called the Castle West District. Both areas are designated as "Important Preservation Districts for Groups of Traditional Buildings" (hereafter referred to as "Important Preservation Districts"), as the entire streets are historical and cultural assets and are worthy of protection.
On the first day, we took a stroll through the eastern Joto area along the old highway.

Tsuyama was a town along the old road that connected Himeji in Harima Province to Matsue in Izumo Province. Inns and merchants' townhouses along the road still remain, evoking the prosperity of those days, making it a great place for a stroll.
The towns along the roads, where goods were being shipped and people were moving around thriving, are examples of the amazing urban planning that was carried out at the time. The townhouses are characterized by a mixture of "two-story (middle) buildings" and "two-story buildings," but the eaves are almost all aligned, creating a sense of continuity and a spectacular sight.

There are many more unique features. Each house has a fireproof "sleeve wall," "sea cucumber walls" on the walls, "latticed windows" and "trowel paintings" with letters and pictures painted with plaster, giving the whole town a rich atmosphere.

Along the way, you will see the homes of wealthy merchants and townhouses from the Edo period, as well as buildings that have been used as locations for historical dramas and movies, and you will find that there are still many charming landscapes remaining.
Each alley was given a name, which was related to the surrounding facilities and houses at the time. For example, "Misuya Alley" was named after the house of Sudareya Shichirobei, and "Kawaraya Alley" was named after the tile maker of the Mori clan, the feudal lord of Tsuyama, who lived nearby. The history of Tsuyama is engraved in even the names of the alleys, so it's fun to wander around and let your imagination run wild.
The former shops and townhouses have now been renovated and are used as rest areas and restaurants. If you stop off here and there as you walk, you can have a conversation with the townspeople, making your trip even more memorable.

If you take your time, an hour will fly by in a flash, so be sure to set aside plenty of time to explore the eastern part of the castle.

Joto Town Preservation District

15:00 A stately merchant's townhouse that gives a glimpse into four different eras: "Joto Mukashi Machiya (former Kajimura residence)"

Located along the Izumo Kaido in Joto, Joto Mukashi Machiya is a merchant house that has been preserved as a designated important traditional building since the Edo period. The family has had a residence in this area since the Genroku period, and in the mid-Edo period, Shigeto Touemon, who was the head of the family at the time, was ordered by the Tsuyama Domain to operate as a money exchanger called "Satsugen" (now a bank), and issued "domain bills."

Within the vast 1000m2 site, buildings from four different eras overlap. The oldest is the main house built at the end of the Edo period, the main building built in the early Meiji period, and a Japanese-style garden with huge stones that can be seen from a sitting room built in the Taisho period. There is also a German-style Western-style building, a storehouse, and a teahouse built in the Showa period, and you can see the history of the place that has been used with care despite repeated additions and renovations, and the luxurious lifestyle of a wealthy merchant.
It is in good condition, and the building materials used are of high quality. The building is a nationally registered tangible cultural property (architecture), and the garden is the only nationally registered monument (place of scenic beauty) in the prefecture. There are many Japanese designs, and the fittings show the skills of joiners of the time, as well as decorations featuring checkered and wicker weave. The wide veranda, which is covered with "uguisu" wood, makes a squeaking sound when you walk on it.

In addition to the elaborate building and gardens, the fact that glass was used so lavishly at the time and the design was focused on providing a great view of the gardens is proof that the family was ``extremely wealthy.''
Admission is free and you can explore at your own leisure, and I was able to spend a peaceful time admiring the good old Japanese-style architecture.

Jyoto Old Town House (Former Kajimura Residence)

16:00 Joka Koyado Kojiya, a rental accommodation renovated from a townhouse attached to a sake brewery that is an important cultural property

We visited a new lodge that opened in the Joto district in July 2020. The name of the lodge, "Kojiya," comes from the fact that the building was originally adjacent to a sake brewery called "Kanda Sake Brewery."

The former Kanda Sake Brewery was founded here 260 years ago and grew to the point where it served as the official sake brewery for the Tsuyama domain.
From then on, they continued to make the sake called "Morohaku" until this place was designated as a Important Cultural Property in 2013. Even from the outside, you can get a glimpse of the storehouse, chimneys, and other traces of the time when it prospered as a sake brewery. It is a particularly large building along the Izumo Kaido, and the 10 facilities where it was brewed have been designated as Important Cultural Properties by the country.
Continuing to the west from the former Kanda family residence are a group of two-story wooden townhouses attached to the residence, which have been renovated into three accommodation buildings and a shared lounge.
All rooms are spacious enough for a family of 6 to 11 people. Each room is equipped with twin beds, and depending on the number of guests, futons can be added to the tatami rooms. The exterior is Japanese modern, but Western elements are incorporated in key areas, making it easy to use. Sake is provided in the bathroom of each room, and you can enjoy a "sake bath" by pouring plenty of sake into the cypress bathtub. There is also a kitchen, garden, and deck terrace, so you can enjoy your own time while taking in the history and culture.

During our tour of the inn, we also had the opportunity to experience the "Tsushi two-story" style, a feature of townhouses in the Joto area.
Town houses around the Izumo Highway were not allowed to have high roofs because feudal lords would pass along the road on alternate attendance days. The lower the buildings, the narrower the living space, especially on the second floor. So instead of installing ceiling boards, they made the roof as high as possible by leaving the beams exposed, but even so, the second floor was so low that you could hit your head on it. The "Tsushi 2nd Floor" construction method was originally used as a servant's room rather than a living space, so it must have been a little inconvenient for daily life. However, when you look at the second floor of this "Tsushi 2nd Floor" again, it has a secluded feel like an "attic" and is an incredibly relaxing space. It's a space where you can spend time concentrating, reading a book or working on your computer while surrounded by thick beams.

In the atmosphere of Tsuyama's traditional architecture, you can enjoy a symbiosis of old and new, while still feeling comfortable and connected to history. The fact that privacy is well protected is also perfect for today's world.

Tsuyama Castle East Old Town Castle Town Inn Kojiya

18:00 Experience local meat cuisine at "Ibushigin" in "Tsuyama, the city of meat"

Did you know that Tsuyama City in Okayama Prefecture is known as the "city of meat"?
Tsuyama has had a culture of eating meat since ancient times, and even today its unique ways of eating meat and gourmet cuisine remain.
During the Edo period, even when eating meat was prohibited, there were places where it was permitted to eat animal meat. Tsuyama Domain was one of them, and along with the Omi-Hikone Domain, meat was considered medicine. This culture was called "eating for health," and it is said that people ate meat to make their bodies healthy and to heal. There are records showing that Tsuyama was already known as a beef town during the Meiji period.

For a meat-filled night in Tsuyama, head to Ibushigin, located along Kakuyama Street. The name "Meat Building" is written in large letters and warmly lit, creating a very appealing appearance.
The owner, who opened this "meat izakaya" using his experience working at a butcher shop, uses his professional eye for meat and handles it well to provide the best quality meat dishes.

The first thing we ordered was dried meat, the first of Tsuyama's unique meat dishes.
I had never tried it before, so when I heard the name, I thought, "Maybe it's something like jerky." The lean cuts are dried, and the flavor is concentrated before being grilled. Rather than gobbling it down like a steak, it's meant to be enjoyed slowly with a drink, and it's a luxurious dish with concentrated flavor and a gradual sweetness of the meat. At Ibushigin, they serve homemade dried meat that has been dried for one to one and a half days, grilled over binchotan charcoal until fragrant.

Nikogori is made by stewing beef tendons until they become a soup-like substance, then solidifying it in the refrigerator.
After it melts in your mouth, you can feel the elasticity and meatiness of the tendons. It's full of collagen and goes well with the yuzu peel sprinkled on top. I was taught the expert way to eat it, which is to put it on hot rice and pour soy sauce over it when it has melted a little.

"Yomenakase" is the hard part of the blood vessel (aorta).
This cut was named after the difficulty of preparing it, meaning that it would be "trouble for brides." It is low in calories but has a good texture, so it is satisfying to eat, and contrary to its name, it is a cut that we would like women to try.
There were also a number of other meaty dishes on the menu, such as "Ocean Tail Ponzu," which is boiled and torn until tender and then topped with grated daikon radish and ponzu sauce, and "Kappachyo," a hearty dish of roast beef.
Tsuyama's meat dishes have evolved in a way that is unique to a town where meat culture has developed. The night in Tsuyama deepened in an izakaya filled with warmth.

Popular Meat Bar Ibushigin