Nagoya - Morning Service, Yanagibashi Market, and Shikemichi Historic District

After hiking part of the Nakasendo Trail from Magome to Tsumago the day before; I was kinda bushed. The Missus though; was ready to go. She decided that we needed to check out Nagoya Castle. And we'd be walking there. As we crossed thru Nagoya Station, we noticed that even at around 730 on a Saturday morning, folks were milling around the "Golden Clock" right across from Takashimaya. This is the most popular meeting spot in Nagoya Station.

As we crossed the street and headed down Sakura-Dori; I spied this place on the lower level of one of the buildings.

The sign said "Morning Set - 390"; that's 390 Yes; about $3.50 for coffee and a small breakfast; something known as "Morning Service" and was created in Nagoya. We had first enjoyed at Komeda Coffee in Kamakura. Heck, we even splurged and got some "green juice" with our meal.

Which was just 100 Yen more. It was a satisfying start to the day.

Pronto Caffe & Bar
4-6-17 Meieki
Nakamura-ku, Nagoya

On one of the corners, the Missus pointed out a bit of hustle and bustle down a side street. It looked to be a market. I then remembered that Taka-san from Taisho had written down Yanagibashi Market as being a place we should check out in Nagoya.

It was indeed Yanagibashi Market; though things looked fairly calm when we arrived. Except for the 24 hour ramen stand.......

Since we weren't in any rush we spent some time wandering around the market.

I love checking out markets when we travel.......

The Missus ended up spending a couple of hundred bucks on tea during this trip. When the really nice guy running this tea shop waved us in....he knew what he was doing as he plied us with samples.

And the Missus ended up buying a couple of bags of tea from him.

Yanagibashi Central Market
4-11-3 Meieki
Nakamura-ku, Nagoya

For some reason, we took a left before the river. I was told to cross the Gojo Bridge on my way to Nagoya Castle, so we went down a street before the river.

A few blocks in we came across this shrine.

This is the Fuji Sengen Shrine.

We had noticed that the structures and the character of the street had completely changed.

According to the sign, this is Shikemichi Historic District.

When Nagoya Castle was being rebuilt in 1610; Tokugawa Ieyasu commanded that all the inhabitants of the previous seat of the Owari Clan, the city of Kiyosu move to Nagoya. So from I read all Sixty Thousand plus people moved to Nagoya. Moving houses, shrines, temples....everything.

This district is where the merchants used to live.

Several of the large buildings look interesting.

As do the windows. The street is also wider than in most historic districts.

In 1700, there was a huge fire which they called Genroku-no-Taika destroyed over 1600 structures and 15 temples and shrines. When planning the rebuilding of the city; Tokugawa Yoshimichi decided to widen the streets to a width of Four Ken, which depending on which source of conversion you use is about 23 feet wide as a firebreak.

So; "michi" means street; "shi" is four.....you get Shikemichi.

There are some nice little shops and cafes on the street; though most were still closed when we walked through

I'm not sure why we took the turns that we did. But I'm glad we did as we ran into things like this interesting looking shrine sitting on the roof of this building. According to the sign; these Shinto Rooftop Shrines are called "Yanegami" whose purpose is to ward off disease and disasters.

I hadn't really read much about historical Nagoya and folks I asked about the city really didn't tell me much in terms of history. So running into places like Shikemichi just adds that much more to things.

Soon enough we came to an intersection with modern buildings all around. To the left was the place we were looking for; the Gojo Bridge whose history dates back to 1610. The current structure was built in 1938.

We headed across the bridge; then left in the direction of Nagoya Castle. But who knows what would happen when we took a left after crossing the bridge? After all; we took a random left turn and ended up in Shikemichi!

Thanks for reading!

Comments

[kat]

amazing what a wrong turn can bring :) great adventure!

[Soo @ hungryones]

Love the market! Reminds me of Chinatown in San Francisco. The historic district is very cool looking too.

[Kirk]

So true Kat!

This was a fun day Soo!

[Junichi]

Hidden gems in Japan truly are "hidden" in alleys. Sometimes good to get lost in a city.

[Kirk]

There always seems to be something neat around every corner in Japan Junichi.