North Tottori · SakaiminatoNo.605★★★Open in map →
Mizuki Shigeru Road
— Sakaiminato's street of yokai statues
A street in the port town of Sakaiminato, running from the station to a museum for the manga artist Mizuki Shigeru. Yokai — the spirits and monsters of Japanese folklore — stand in bronze along both pavements, and the walk is free at any hour.
- FromYonago Station
- ~45 minJR Sakai Line, to the end of the line
- Get off atSakaiminato Station (JR Sakai Line)
- On foot
- Mizuki Shigeru Road
Where it is
10 more notes in Tottori · open the map →What to look for — in walking order
- Sakaiminato Stationa station building shaped like a lighthouse, at the western end of the road
- The bronze yokaifigures set along both pavements, each with its own name plaque
- Kappa no Izumia small water plaza where river-imp figures sit together
- Yokai Jinjaa compact shrine to the yokai, set back from the pavement partway along
- Mizuki Shigeru Memorial Museumthe museum at the eastern end, inside the Hommachi arcade
How to actually get there
- Yonago Station → Sakaiminato Station (JR Sakai Line, about 45 min, end of the line).
- Leave Sakaiminato Station and turn east onto the road at the station plaza.
- Walk east past the bronzes, the water plaza and the yokai shrine.
- Finish at the Mizuki Shigeru Memorial Museum inside the Hommachi arcade, then walk the same road back.
- JR Sakai Line, direct from Yonago Station
- Yonago Station → Sakaiminato Station on the JR Sakai Line, about 45 minutes to the end of the line. Trains are painted with yokai characters, and the stations along the way each carry a yokai nickname of their own. Departures are spaced out rather than frequent, so check the board at Yonago before you set out.
- Return from Sakaiminato Station
- Sakaiminato is the terminus, so every train out of it runs back to Yonago. Departures thin out in the evening. If you plan to stay for the lit street, note the last departure when you arrive rather than when you want to leave.
About the place
Mizuki Shigeru Road links Sakaiminato Station with the Mizuki Shigeru Memorial Museum, about 800 metres to the east. Along the way, 178 bronze yokai stand on the pavements: characters from GeGeGe no Kitaro alongside spirits gathered from folklore across Japan. Each figure carries its own name plaque, so the street reads as a catalogue rather than as decoration. Shops, cafes and a small shrine open off the same pavement, and the road ends inside the Hommachi shopping arcade. It is a public street, not an attraction with a gate, so the walk costs nothing and takes as long as you let it.
How to enjoy it
The museum opens at 9:30 and stays open year-round, so a morning start lets you finish inside and come back out to the street. Stay until after sunset and the same road changes: the bronzes are lit and shadow figures of yokai appear along it. Doing both means walking the road twice, which is rather the point.
Background & history
The road opened in 1993, when a first set of bronze yokai was installed along the shopping street that runs east from the station. More figures were added in batches over the following decades, and the town built its visitor identity around the folklore that Mizuki Shigeru spent his career drawing. A full rebuild finished in 2018: the pavements were widened, the traffic was turned one-way, night lighting was added and the whole cast of bronzes was re-positioned. What visitors walk now is that rebuilt street.
Before you go
- Cash
- The road is a public street and costs nothing to walk. The Mizuki Shigeru Memorial Museum at the far end charges a separate admission. Shops and cafes along the way are individually run, so carry some cash.
- Before you go
- The road is flat and fully paved, and it is lit after dark, when illuminated bronzes and shadow figures of yokai appear along it. Shops and the museum keep their own hours, so an evening visit is for the street rather than the interiors. This is the Sea of Japan coast — winter brings wind and grey, wet days.
- Another way
- There is no second railway in. The Sakai Line runs only between Yonago and Sakaiminato, so an approach along the Sanin coast from either direction means changing at Yonago and riding the branch to its end.
- After you get off
- Sakaiminato Station stands at the western end of the road and its exit faces straight down it. Turn east from the station plaza and keep going on flat pavement; the museum sits at the far end, inside the Hommachi arcade.