More glimpses of unfamiliar Japan

  The Sakurai were a samurai family who controlled iron production in an area of Okuizumo in the Chugoku Mountains of Shimane. Originally fr...

  Tameshigiri is the art of testing a new sword. In the good old days this would often be done using the body of an executed criminal, but s...

  A Buke Yashiki is best translated as samurai residence, and this one in the castle town of Matsue belonged to middle -ranked samurai. It i...

  Called Izushi Karo yashiki on the tourist maps, this is the only remaining samurai residence in the former castle town of Izushi in northe...

Nakane Samurai Residence The castle town of Kitsuki in Oita is yet another of the small towns in Japan that have chosen to label themselves ...

  The Itohara were a family of high-ranking samurai who served the Matsue Domain. They moved into the Okuizumo area in the Chugoku Mountains...

Itohara Memorial Museum The Itohara were a family of high-ranking samurai in the service of the Matsue Domain during the Edo Period. Their b...

  In the small castle town of Kitsuki in Oita there is a well preserved former samurai district with some of the Edo Period samurai residenc...