Japan Navigator

Only a day trip away from the Kansai area you can find many interesting destinations, some famous, others completely unknown. One such hidden town is Katsuyama, a former castle town deep in the Chugoku mountains of northern Okayama prefecture, close to the border with Tottori. Despite its far away location, Katsuyama is surprisingly easy to get to, and from the train station you can visit all interesting spots in the small town on foot.

Katsuyama lies on the ancient Izumo Kaido, the road that connected the Kansai via Himeji with Matsue and the Izumo area. It was also called the “Iron Road,” as the rivers winding through the Chugoku mountains rendered iron sand, which was used to make ore. The Emperors Gotoba and Godaigo both traveled this route when they were banished to the Oki islands and in more recent history it was the road via which the daimyo of Matsue, the Matsudaira, traveled to Edo for the Sankin Kotai. Katsuyama was also linked to Okayama via the Asahi River, over which flat-bottomed boats plied their trade.

Katsuyama was a prosperous and important traffic point on the route, and at the same time the castle town of the Miura lords, whose fief was worth 23,000 koku. The old town sits north of the modern train station, with the hill on which Takada Castle once stood at the back. The streets are lined with white walls and latticed windows and at dusk street lanterns spread a romantic glow. The town was designated as the first preservation area in Okayama in 1985.

The symbol of the town are the noren, the colorful Japanese-style door curtains especially made by a textile artist, Kano Yoko, for all the shops in the town. They have very original designs and it is fun to guess the relation with the shop to which they belong. When houses happen to stand empty - as occurs all over the Japanese countryside due to the greying of the population - Katsuyama tries to find young people willing to rent the premises and start a craft shop or a restaurant. An old soy sauce brewery has become a concert hall and community center (the Hishio Center for Cultural Exchange).

There are two small museums in the town, the history museum (Kyodo Shiryokan) and a reconstructed samurai residence. To my surprise, in the museum I found materials about Tanizaki Junichiro, the famous novelist who spent some time here during the war, writing parts of Sasameyuki.

It appears Tanizaki was not the only artist attracted to Katsuyama. There was an active cultural life in the town, stimulated by the Tsuji family, who own the sake brewery Gozenshu. Gozenshu started brewing in 1804 and its brandname reflects that part of the sake they made was a sort of tribute for the castle lord, Gozen-sama.

Conditions for sake brewing are excellent in Katsuyama: The Mimasaka area of Okayama has good sake rice, excellent toji (chief brewers) and Katsuyama has pure water from the understream of the Asahi River that flows through the town. On top of that, the winters are sufficiently cold. The Tsuji’s still make sake according to traditional methods in the building in which the brewery was established 200 years ago. It forms one of the best souvenirs of your trip to Katsuyama.

First take the express from Okayama to Tsuyama (about 1 hr), then travel over the Kishin Line to Chugoku-Katsuyama St. (50 min). Katsuyama is part of Maniwa City.

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