Kajiyamachi Blacksmith District

Kajiyamachi in Hitoyoshi was the blacksmith district of the Edo period, and though no forges operate today, the main street retains traditional merchant homes and family-run businesses. Kamada Jozojo, a soy sauce and miso producer in a restored Taisho-era building, offers free tours. Tateyama Shoten, a tea shop open since 1877, runs tea ceremony and ikebana workshops. The district is also the home of Unsun Karuta, a 75-card game descended from games introduced by Portuguese traders in the sixteenth century. Banned under Edo-era reforms but kept alive in Hitoyoshi, the game is now an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, playable and explained at Unsun Karuta no Ie.