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Hita Mameda-machi

— An Edo merchant quarter in inland Oita

historyOff the trail — and worth it

A preserved quarter of merchant houses in the inland Oita town of Hita, set on a grid by the shogunate's own administration rather than by a lord. It is a short walk north of the station and still an ordinary shopping street.

FromHakata Station
~2 hrJR limited express Yufu
Get off atHita Station (JR Kyudai Main Line)
From there
Hita Mameda-machi

Directions ↗

The sweet spot

Mameda is well known in Japan and gets billed as a little Kyoto, so it is no secret. What thins the visitors is geography. Hita sits inland on the line to Yufuin, and most people on that train are going to Yufuin; the Beppu and Yufuin circuit that brings travellers to Oita passes Hita by. On a weekday the street belongs mostly to the people who live and trade on it.

Where it is

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What to look for — in walking order

Miyuki-dori and Kamimachi-dorithe long streets of the quarter, with the cross streets running between them
Kusano Family Residencea merchant house at the southern end, a national Important Cultural Property
Hirose Museumthe house of the Hirose merchant family, kept with their papers and furnishings
Nihonmaru-kanan old pharmacy building with its shop front intact, a registered cultural property
Chofukujithe temple at the northern edge, with a nationally designated main hall

How to actually get there

Hakata Station → Hita Station (JR limited express Yufu, Kyudai Main Line). The Yufuin no Mori uses the same route.
Walk north from the station toward the Kagetsu river; the quarter starts on the near bank.
Go up one of the two long streets and come back down the other, taking the cross streets as you please.
Pick one or two of the house museums rather than all of them, and check the closing day before you go in.

Hakata to Hita on the Kyudai Main Line: The JR limited express Yufu runs inland from Hakata through Kurume and up the river valley to Hita, and the sightseeing Yufuin no Mori takes the same route. Highway buses from Fukuoka also come in to the terminal beside the station.
Back to Hakata, or on east to Yufuin: The same trains continue to Yufuin and Oita, so Mameda works as a stop on a crossing rather than a there-and-back trip. Limited expresses on this line are few, so choose the return before you walk into the quarter.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

The district covers about 10.7 hectares on the north bank of the Kagetsu river, and the plan is unusually easy to read: two streets run north to south, five cross them east to west, and the blocks between come out regular. Merchant houses of tiled roof and plastered timber line them, some of them national Important Cultural Properties, most of them still lived in. This is a designated preservation district rather than an open-air museum, so the frontages hold sake shops, soy sauce makers, cafés and hardware. Walking one street to the end and the other back is the visit.

How to enjoy it

An hour walks the quarter; two or three if you go into the houses, which keep their own days and hours. From Hita Station it is about fifteen minutes on foot north, and the approach toward the river is part of the visit rather than a chore. During the doll festival the shops set out their heirloom hina dolls, and that is when the street is fullest.

Background & history

Hita became shogunate territory in 1639, and a magistrate's office was set up here to run it. Mameda grew around that office as its merchant quarter. In 1767 the post was raised to deputy governor for western Kyushu, and the merchants of Hita moved into lending on a scale that earned their capital the name Hita money. The state designated the townscape an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings on 10 December 2004.

Before you go

Cash: The streets cost nothing to walk. The house museums each charge their own admission and close on their own days, so carry coins and do not count on cards in the smaller shops.
Good to know: Some houses close one weekday a week and over the New Year. The doll festival weeks and autumn weekends fill both streets and the car parks around them. Nothing here is covered, so rain shortens the walk.
Another way: From the Oita side the same line runs west through Yufuin, which makes an east-to-west crossing of Kyushu with Hita as the last stop before Kurume. By car the town is reached from the Oita expressway.
After you get off: Hita Station is a genuine walking stop. Head north from the front of the station and keep going toward the river, and the quarter begins in about fifteen minutes. The bus terminal beside the station has local services if the walk does not suit.