Samurai District (“Samurai House Avenue”)
The Kakunodate Samurai District once housed about 80 samurai families, and is the best example of samurai architecture and housing in Japan. It boasted the widest avenue in the country during the Edo period aside from the one in Edo. The reason for its great width remains unknown. Of the samurai houses that remain intact, six are open to the public and offer visitors the opportunity to see how samurai families lived. From south to north, these are the Odano, Matsumoto, Iwahashi, Aoyagi, Ishiguro, and Onozaki houses. The Hirafuku Memorial Museum of Fine Arts is located next to the Onozaki house.
Kakunodate is also renowned for its artisanal cherry bark crafts. In the midst of Samurai House Avenue stands the Kakunodate Cherry Bark Craft Museum. The bourgeois town extended to the south of the Samurai District, which is now the commercial district of Kakunodate Town.
Kakunodate Conservation Area of Traditional Buildings
Project for the Conservation of Kakunodate Weeping Cherry Trees, a State-Designated Natural Treasure
The 162 Weeping Cherry Trees of Kakunodate: A State-Designated Natural Treasure