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About 45 minutes west of Morioka via the Shinkansen (Bullet Train), Kakunodate is an old samurai town that actually still has some of its samurai district intact. As you will see from the following pictures, many of the characteristics that we saw in the samurai houses (tatami mats, color schemes, etc) were very similar to the ryokans that we stayed at.
Kakunodate
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This is the sign for Aoyagi Samurai Manor, the most famous Samurai house in Kakunodate. The Aoyagi family goes as far back as the 16th century, when family founder Aoyagi Touemon became a vassal of Lord Ashina of Hitach in 1570. Over the next three and a half centuries, the Aoyagi family enjoyed a steady growth, both in income and political importance; one member -- Aoyagi Tomokichi -- even became the mayor of Kakunodate in 1902.
In 1989, Aoyagi Samurai Manor became a complex of open-air museums, featuring the Main House, the Armory, the Seiryu-an Gallery, the Akita Folk Museum, the Samurai Tools and Utensils Museum, the Antique Museum and Tea Room, and a beautiful garden. On display in the buildings are items from the 17th through 20th centuries, such as samurai swords, utensils, clothing, toys, hanging scrolls, pictures and documents.
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