Karatsu Kaido Akamajuku

Akamajuku was one of 21 post towns along the Karatsu Kaido highway, the main overland route between Karatsu in Saga and Kitakyushu during the Edo period. Before Meiji-era railways bypassed the town, travelers stopped here to rest horses, eat, and find lodging. A 500-meter stretch of the old highway retains its nineteenth-century streetscape, with original townhouses and a handful of businesses operating since the Edo period. Among them is the Katsuya Sake Brewery, which still supplies sake for rituals at Munakata Taisha and draws its water from one of the two remaining old wells in the area. The name Akama means 'red horse,' tied to the same Emperor Jimmu legend connected to nearby Hasshogu Shrine.