Kakunodate Station (角館駅)
Station Type: Train station
Kakunodate Station on the Akita Shinkansen Line is located in Senboku City, Akita Prefecture. Here we will introduce the station and the sightseeing spots around the station for foreign tourists to enjoy.
First, Kakunodate Station itself is a retro station building with a Showa-era atmosphere. In addition, there is a station square in front of the station, where seasonal events are sometimes held.
Around the station, there is the Kakunodate Buke Yashiki (samurai residence). These samurai residences are representative of the townscape of Kakunodate and are designated as a national important cultural property. Visitors can view the historic buildings and experience the samurai culture.
Akita Prefecture is also famous for sake, and there is a sake brewery in Kakunodate. At a local sake brewery, visitors can observe the brewing process and sample the sake. In addition, the adjacent “Sake Brewery Street” is lined with local breweries and restaurants where visitors can enjoy delicious local food and sake.
Furthermore, Kakunodate is also a hot spring resort, and within walking distance from the station is the Kakunodate Onsen Tatenoyu, a natural hot spring. Here, visitors can relax in the open-air bath or in the bedrock bath.
Around Kakunodate Station, there are many sightseeing spots where you can enjoy history, culture, gastronomy, and hot springs. Be sure to stop by Kakunodate Station on your trip to Akita.
Restaurants, Foods
Some restaurants and food shops around the station.
Restaurant Chabo Sakura Komachi (お食事処 茶房 さくら小町)
Restaurant Type: Syokudo and Teishoku restaurant
Momi no ki tei (樅の木亭)
Restaurant Type: Creative cuisine restaurant
Tatsumi Sushi (辰巳寿司)
Restaurant Type: Sushi restaurant
Tourist area
Some tourist area – the best views, museums and parks – around the station.
Kakunodate Samurai House (角館武家屋敷通り)
Tourist Area Type: Historical landmark
Bukeyashiki Street is a road in Kakunodate Town, Senboku City, Akita Prefecture, extending southward from National Route 46 at the foot of Mount Kojo (where Kakunodate Castle once stood) and running through the inner town of Kakunodate, a former samurai town, in a north-south direction.
The street is lined with old houses that were once the samurai residences of middle- and lower-ranked samurai, and is characterized by its blackboard walls and groves of weeping cherry trees. The weeping cherry trees are especially beautiful in spring, and the area is especially crowded with tourists during the cherry blossom season. The 6.9-hectare area around the samurai residence street was selected as an important traditional building preservation district in 1976 under the name of “Kakunodate Town Kakunodate Traditional Buildings Preservation District” because it retains much of its samurai town atmosphere. The area was selected as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings in 1976.
Shidarezakura (weeping cherry tree) in Kakunodate (角館のシダレザクラ)
Tourist Area Type: Tourist attraction
Kakunodate weeping cherry is the generic name for about 150 weeping cherry trees, designated as a national natural treasure, that grow along the streets of samurai residences in Kakunodate-cho, Senboku City, Akita Prefecture. Based on folklore and oral traditions, it is estimated that the weeping cherry trees of the Edohigan type, which began to be planted in samurai residences around the end of the 18th century, are the direct ancestors of those growing today.
The weeping cherry trees, which have been passed down from generation to generation in the urban area of the castle town, were designated a national natural monument on October 9, 1974, because their scale and growing environment are “unparalleled in other places. The “weeping cherry tree of Kakunodate” is not a single weeping cherry tree, but a generic name for the weeping cherry trees that grow in the samurai residence area. In 1990, it was selected as one of the 100 best cherry blossom viewing spots in Japan.
Kakunodate is also known as Michinoku’s Little Kyoto, and together with the rows of Someiyoshino cherry trees along the Hinokinai River bank (Sakura), a national scenic beauty spot on the left bank of the Hinokinai River that runs along the west side of the samurai residence district, it is a famous tourist spot as one of the most famous cherry blossom viewing spots in the Tohoku region. In late April each year, when the cherry trees are in full bloom, they bring a traditional beauty to the quaint townscape with its blackboard walls surrounded by tall forests of houses.
Kakunodate Kabazaiku Center (Kakunodate Cherry Bark Woodcraft Museum) (角館樺細工伝承館)
Tourist Area Type: Handicraft museum
The Senboku Municipal Kakunodate Kabazaiku Tradition Museum is a tourist facility located in Senboku City, Akita Prefecture.
Kakunodate’s kabazaiku, which has been handed down in Kakunodate since the 18th century, was designated as a traditional craft in 1976 [2]. It was established in September 1978 by the former town of Kakunodate (merged with surrounding towns and villages in 2005, now Senboku City) for the purpose of promoting Kabazaiku. It is the third oldest traditional craft center in Japan. The museum offers demonstrations of kabazaiku production and exhibits materials on crafts, culture, and history, and has a product shop and a coffee shop.
The roof of the information hall, which resembles a straw-thatched roof, does not look out of place when viewed from the samurai residence street, but the entrance has a red brick arch supported by round precast concrete pillars, giving it a Western-style appearance. The tourist information hall, which also houses a coffee shop, has many arches, reminiscent of a European private home. It was designed by Hiroshi Oe, who was also involved in the Kagawa Prefecture Cultural Hall and the National Noh Theatre. Neither a boxy modernist building that emphasizes the museum’s functionality nor a Japanese-style building that matches the surrounding samurai residential area was adopted. Oe uses the keyword “coexistence and mixture” to describe the cohabitation of tradition and modernism in his architecture.
Hotels
There are various hotels around the station.
Hotel Folkloro Kakunodate (ホテルフォルクローロ角館)
Toyoko Inn Akita-eki Higashi-guchi (東横INN秋田駅東口)
Toyoko INN Kitakami Station Shinkansen opening (東横INN北上駅新幹線口)
Convenience Stores, Grocery Stores
Stores for foods, drinks and others.
Tourist Information Center
Tourist information centers inside/around the station.
Kakunodatecho Sight Seeing Information Center (仙北市観光情報センター「角館駅前蔵」)
Have a nice visit !
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