Imai-cho

Imai-cho is not a museum street. Roughly 1,500 buildings sit inside an area about 600 metres by 310 metres, and people live in most of them, which is why it feels different from Edo-period streets that have turned into souvenir arcades. Tiled roofs, latticed fronts and white plaster walls run block after block. Cars still squeeze down the lanes, so stay alert.

The town grew out of a temple. Imai Hyobu founded Shonen-ji, a Jodo Shinshu temple, in the Tenbun era (1532 to 1555), and the community around it dug a moat and raised earthen walls when Oda Nobunaga went to war with the Ikko sect. The streets were laid out with staggered junctions so an attacker could not see far down them, and the sites of nine gates survive. Imai held out, then surrendered in 1575, was pardoned, and went on to run its own affairs under its town elders. In the Edo period its merchants dealt in fertiliser, cotton, miso and sake and circulated their own paper money, the Imai-satsu. People said seven tenths of Yamato's money sat in Imai. The district became a national Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings in 1993.

The Imanishi house, dated 1650 and the oldest in town, looks more like a small castle than a home, and the head elder held hearings in it. Visits need a reservation, cost 500 yen and do not run on Mondays. The former Komeya house and the Imai Machiya-kan are free (9:00 to 17:00, closed 12:00 to 13:00). The Nakahashi and Takagi houses, both Important Cultural Properties, open on no fixed schedule for 400 yen; look for the sign at the door. The Kawai family, here since the early Edo period, still brews sake.

One warning for autumn 2026: Hanairaka, the 1903 building that worked as the town's museum and first stop, has been closed for safety since 18 September 2026. Pamphlets and tourist information moved on 1 October to the Imai Machizukuri Center opposite Shonen-ji. A number of cafes now run in old houses. Give it two hours, and keep your voice down.