West Tokushima · MimaNo.653★★Open in map →

Wakimachi Udatsu Townscape

— Indigo merchants' firewalls in Mima

historyOff the trail — and worth it

A single street of merchant houses in Mima, built between the mid-Edo period and the early Showa era and kept for its udatsu — the tiled firewalls raised between neighbours as much for display as for safety.

FromTokushima Station
~1 hrJR Tokushima Line, then taxi
Get off atAnabuki Station (JR Tokushima Line)
From there
Wakimachi Udatsu Townscape

Directions ↗

The sweet spot

This is a designated preservation district and it appears in every prefectural guide, so it is not undiscovered. It is simply awkward to reach: the station is on the other side of the river and no train serves the town itself. The taxi or the walk is the filter, not obscurity.

Where it is

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What to look for — in walking order

Udatsu firewalls on Minami-machiAraiyasushige / CC0

Ai Land Udatsu roadside stationthe car park and information point at the entrance to the street, with a storehouse-style building
Udatsu firewallstiled and plastered walls pushed up between roofs, no two households' quite the same
Yoshida Family Residencethe house of the indigo dealer known as Aisho Sanao, the widest of the merchant frontages
Odeon-zaa prewar wooden playhouse a few minutes west, restored and open to look inside
Yoshino River bankthe water route the indigo left by, a short walk below the town

How to actually get there

Tokushima Station → Anabuki Station (JR Tokushima Line; limited express Tsurugisan or a local train).
Anabuki Station → Wakimachi (taxi across the Yoshino River, or about 40 min on foot).
Start at the Ai Land Udatsu roadside station and walk west along the preserved street.
Carry on a few minutes further to the Odeon-za before doubling back.

JR Tokushima Line to Anabuki: From Tokushima Station take the Tokushima Line west to Anabuki. The Tsurugisan limited express covers it in about forty minutes but runs only a few times a day; local trains are roughly hourly on this stretch. From Anabuki it is about ten minutes by taxi across the river.
Back from Anabuki: Trains toward Tokushima run into the evening but thin out, and the limited express has only a handful of departures. Arrange the return taxi before you start walking the street, or plan on walking back to the station.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

Wakimachi sits on the north bank of the Yoshino River, where the highway from Awaji met the road over the mountains toward Sanuki. Indigo grew well on the river's flood plain, and the boats that carried it downstream made the town rich; at its height more than a hundred indigo dealers traded here. They spent the money on their frontages — plaster walls, lattice screens, and above all the udatsu, the tiled fire walls pushed up between neighbouring roofs. Then the railway was laid along the far bank instead, and the commerce followed it across the water. That is much of the reason the street was never rebuilt.

How to enjoy it

The street has no gate and no closing time, so you can walk it whenever you arrive. The individual houses and the Odeon-za do keep hours, roughly through the middle of the day, so aim to be in Wakimachi by early afternoon if you want to go inside anything. Allow an hour for the street alone, or two if you take the theatre and the Yoshida house as well.

Background & history

The town grew first as the castle town of Waki Castle, then as the collection point for Awa indigo, the dye the province was known for. The street was designated an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings in December 1988, the twenty-eighth in the country. The Odeon-za, a wooden playhouse a few minutes to the west, was rescued later: it was restored after appearing in a Shochiku film and now opens for visitors between performances.

Before you go

Cash: The street itself is free to walk. The houses that open charge small individual admissions, posted at each door. Anabuki Station is unstaffed, so sort out your ticket before you travel and keep cash for the taxi.
Good to know: There is little shelter on the street and little lighting after dark, so this is a daytime visit. The houses that open close in the late afternoon, while the roadside station car park stays available.
Another way: By car it is about ten minutes from the Wakimachi interchange on the Tokushima Expressway, with free parking at the roadside station — the practical option if you are already crossing Shikoku by road.
After you get off: Anabuki Station sits on the far bank of the Yoshino River from the town. Take a taxi from the forecourt, or cross the bridge on foot and follow the river road, which takes closer to forty minutes.