Hyōgo · ToyookaNo.341★★Open in map →
Izushi castle town
A former castle town in northern Hyōgo, preserved as a national Important Preservation District. Its landmark clock tower has kept time since 1881, and the local soba arrives on five small porcelain plates per person.
The bus sets you down and the first thing you see is the Shinkorō, a squat wooden tower on a stone base at the head of the main street. It was built in 1871 on the yagura platform beside the castle's old gate, to beat a drum at the hour. Ten years later a local physician named Ikeguchi Chūjo donated a mechanical clock, and from 8 September 1881 the tower has told the time by face rather than by drum — which makes it Japan's second-oldest working clock tower, twenty-seven days behind Sapporo's. Beyond it the grid of the castle town runs out in low tiled roofs and white plaster, with the stone terraces of Izushi Castle rising at the southern end. Then there is lunch. Izushi sara-soba comes as five small Izushi-ware plates per person, each holding a single mouthful or two of buckwheat noodles, and you work through them with egg, grated yam, spring onion, daikon and wasabi, changing the combination as you go. Around forty shops in this small town serve it. Locals will tell you the honest measure of an appetite is how many plates you clear.
Why it stays quiet
Izushi delivers two distinct things in one small town: a genuinely preserved castle townscape with national designation, and a regional noodle tradition you cannot eat anywhere else in this form. Neither alone would pull you three hours from Osaka, but together with Kinosaki Onsen next door they make a solid northern Hyōgo pairing — and the clock tower gives the town a face you will recognise in every photograph of it.
Background & history
Izushi was the castle town of the Izushi domain, whose castle was rebuilt in 1604 by Koide Yoshihide below the older mountain fortress of Ariko-yama. In 1706 the Sengoku family was transferred here from Ueda in Shinshū and brought soba artisans with them; the small-plate service using local Izushi porcelain developed later and became the town's signature. The Shinkorō drum tower went up in 1871 and received its donated clock in 1881. The Eiraku-kan theatre, built in 1901, is the oldest surviving playhouse in the Kinki region and was restored and reopened in 2008. The townscape was designated a national Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings in 2007, and the town's nickname — the Little Kyoto of Tajima — long predates it.
What to look for — in walking order
- Shinkorō clock tower
- built 1871 as a drum tower; running as a clock since 8 September 1881, second-oldest in Japan after Sapporo's
- Izushi Castle ruins
- stone terraces and rebuilt turrets at the south end of town, with a red torii corridor climbing the slope behind
- Eiraku-kan theatre
- a 1901 playhouse, oldest surviving in the Kinki region; restored 2008, with the revolving stage and under-stage machinery open to view
- Karō yashiki (senior retainer's residence)
- an Edo-period samurai house with a concealed upper floor built for defence
How to enjoy it
Come for lunch — that is the correct way to plan Izushi. Buy the sara-soba pass if you want to sample rather than commit: it lets you take three plates at each of three different shops, and the differences between them are real. Shops fill between 12:00 and 13:00 on weekends, so eat early or late. The preserved streets take about an hour to walk and the castle terraces another thirty minutes. Most soba shops close in the late afternoon and the town goes quiet by evening, so this is a daytime destination. Combining it with a night at Kinosaki Onsen, an hour away by direct bus, is the standard local itinerary and a good one.
How to actually get there
- Osaka Stn → JR Toyooka Stn (limited express Kōnotori, ~2 hr 40 min), or Kyoto Stn → Toyooka (limited express Kinosaki, ~2 hr 30 min).
- Toyooka Stn → Izushi terminal (Zentan Bus, ~30 min, about ¥590).
- Izushi terminal → Shinkorō clock tower and the preserved streets (walk ~2 min).
- Train to Toyooka, then the Zentan bus
- Osaka or Kyoto → JR Toyooka Stn (limited express Kōnotori from Osaka, ~2 hr 40 min; Kinosaki from Kyoto, ~2 hr 30 min) → Zentan Bus bound for Izushi, ~30 min, about ¥590, alighting at the Izushi terminal in the town centre. From Kinosaki Onsen there is a direct bus taking about an hour.
- Same bus back to Toyooka or on to Kinosaki
- Buses return to JR Toyooka Station from the Izushi terminal, roughly hourly, with the last departure in the early evening. The direct Kinosaki Onsen service runs less often — check the timetable at the terminal on arrival if you plan to stay the night there.
Before you go
- Cash
- Walking the town is free. Soba runs roughly ¥1,000–1,500 for a standard five-plate serving; extra plates are ordered individually. Some older shops are cash only. Izushi Castle grounds are free; the Eiraku-kan theatre and Karō yashiki charge small admissions. Draw cash in Toyooka — ATMs in Izushi are limited.
- Closing days
- The streets are always open. Soba shops generally serve from around 11:00 and many close by 17:00 or when the day's dough runs out. The Eiraku-kan and Karō yashiki open roughly 9:00–17:00 with a weekday closing day — check toyooka-tourism.com.
- Another way
- Kinosaki Onsen, a hot spring town of seven public baths where guests walk between them in yukata, is an hour away by direct bus and is the natural overnight pairing with an Izushi lunch.
- After you get off
- The Izushi bus terminal is a two-minute walk from the Shinkorō; the tower is visible from the stop and works as the town's landmark for navigation. Tourist information is next to the terminal.