Sannose

Sannose is a small village and port on the east side of Shimokamagari Island. In the 15th and 16th century a castle stood on the hill behind the village and from there tolls were extracted from the traffic on the major sea "highway" through the Inland Sea.

In the Edo Period the port became a major rest stop for travelling dignitaries, daimyos and their entourages on their way to Edo, diplomatic missions from Korea, and the Dutch merchants from Nagasaki. The harbor and stone steps from that period still remain.

Some of these groups could be very large,... one Korean delegation travelled with more than 1,000 bodyguards, and they were all accommodated and feasted during their stay.

There is an art museum, the Rantokaku Art Museum, displaying artists with a connection to the Inland Sea region and works depicting the region, with artworks by Yokoyama Taikan, Heitaro Fukuda, and Manjiro Terauchi among others. There is also a bug museum and an Edo Period Tea House moved here from Takehara, but the main attraction is the Shotoen Garden and Museum which I will post about in the next post on my Aki Nada walk....