Aki Doi Kachu Samurai District
licensed photographIsoyan / CC BY-SA 3.0

East Kochi · AkiNo.850★★Open in map →

Aki Doi Kachu Samurai District

— A castle-side retainers' quarter of hedged lanes

historyOff the trail — and worth it

The retainers' quarter of Aki, laid out around a warring-states castle and kept as a national preservation district. Its lanes run between clipped hedges of oak and bamboo rather than earthen walls, and one of the houses stands open free of charge.

  1. FromKochi Station
  2. ~1 hr 15 minGomen-Nahari Line
  3. Get off atAki Station (Tosa Kuroshio Railway Gomen-Nahari Line)
  4. From there
  5. Aki Doi Kachu Samurai District
Directions ↗

The sweet spot

Aki is already on the map for other reasons, the field clock and the birthplace of the man who founded Mitsubishi among them, and the quarter itself is signposted and free. It stays quiet because it is residential. People live behind the hedges, there are no shops along the lanes, and nothing here was built to hold a crowd. On a weekday morning the streets are often yours, without anyone having hidden them.

Where it is

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What to look for — in walking order

Nomura Residence京浜にけ / CC BY-SA 3.0
  1. Aki Castle ruinsthe earthen bank and moat at the head of the quarter, where the walk starts
  2. Aki City Museum of History and Folklorethe city's museum on the old castle ground, alongside its calligraphy museum
  3. The hedged lanesclipped oak, bamboo and nagi standing in place of walls along the residential streets
  4. Nomura Residencea late-Edo retainer's house opened free, with its gate, bathhouse, storehouse and well
  5. Noradokeithe old field clock on its tower just south of the quarter, an Aki landmark

How to actually get there

  1. Kochi Station to Aki Station on the JR Dosan Line and the Tosa Kuroshio Railway Gomen-Nahari Line.
  2. Aki Station to the quarter: rent a bicycle at the station, or take the Genki bus to Noradokei-mae.
  3. Start at the castle site, where the parking and the museum are, then walk south into the hedged lanes.
  4. Go into the Nomura house, then carry on to the field clock at the southern edge.
Kochi to Aki on the Gomen-Nahari Line
From Kochi Station the JR Dosan Line runs east to Gomen, where the Tosa Kuroshio Railway takes over, and rapid trains run straight through from Kochi. Much of the line is elevated, so the sea stays in view for long stretches, and one of the open-deck sightseeing trains works the Aki end of it.
Back to Kochi, or on east to Nahari
The same line continues east to Nahari, so Aki can be a stop on a crossing rather than a there-and-back trip. Trains thin out in the evening and the quarter is a fair distance from the station, so fix the return before you set off.
Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

The quarter sits near the middle of the Aki plain, on the west bank of the Aki river, and it is small enough to cross on foot without a map. The lanes are lined not with plaster but with living hedge, cut flat and held at about head height, which is why the place photographs green. Behind the hedges stand main houses, earthen storehouses and the low outbuildings once given over to silkworms. The lots and the road pattern have not shifted since the Edo period, and the ground at the head of the quarter is still the old castle site.

How to enjoy it

The lanes take about half an hour to walk, or an hour if you go into the Nomura house and the museum, which keep their own hours and closing days. The house is open through the middle of the day and costs nothing to enter. Rental bicycles at Aki Station make the trip out and back straightforward, and the city's Genki bus stops at Noradokei-mae.

Background & history

A castle was raised here in the warring-states period, and it changed hands when the Chosokabe pushed into eastern Tosa. Once the Yamauchi were given the province, the Goto family, senior retainers of the Tosa domain, took a large estate on the castle ground and the samurai quarter grew around it. What survives is mostly late Edo and later: the main houses, storehouses and outbuildings the retainer families kept up into the prewar years. The state selected the district as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings on 9 July 2012, the second in Kochi.

Before you go

Cash
The lanes are free to walk and the Nomura house charges no admission. The museum on the castle ground has its own ticket and its own closing day. There is free parking beside the castle site, and no shops in the quarter to spend anything in.
Before you go
The Nomura house and the museum keep their own days and hours and shut over the New Year. The quarter is a lived-in neighbourhood, so stay on the lanes and keep the noise down. Nothing along the streets is covered when it rains.
Another way
By car the quarter is signposted off Route 55, and there is a free car park at the castle site. From Aki Station the tourist information counter rents bicycles, which is the quickest way across on a hot day.
After you get off
Aki Station to the quarter is a long walk north along the road. The rental bicycles at the station cut it to about ten minutes, which is what most visitors do, and the city's Genki bus stops at Noradokei-mae within a short walk of the lanes.