Chizu Post Town

Chizu is a former post town in rural Tottori that escaped the modernization that changed most similar places. The main street retains its original streetscape, and the centerpiece is the Ishitani Family Residence, a sprawling merchant estate designated as an Important Cultural Property. The compound includes a main house, storehouses, a garden, and family archives that document rural commerce and elite domestic life from the Edo and Meiji periods. The town sees few visitors, which makes for an unhurried and quietly absorbing few hours.