佐原 Sawara

今週松、佐原市に行った。すごく美しくておもしろいだったよ。佐原が江戸の町だ。１９９６に政府が保存命令をした。毎日江戸の店とレストランが開く。この町が大好き。今年の秋祭にぜひ見に行きたい！
もっと写真が左のリンク有る。

This weekend, I went to Sawara City in Chiba. It was fantastically beautiful and interesting. Sawara is an old Edo city, to my mind more beautiful than any of the old parts of Kyoto or Kawagoe. It had a really nice feel to the place. The town of Sawara first developed in the 13th century, and through the centuries prospered more and more. In the 17th century, work finished on changing the flow of the Tone River, allowing rapid transportation to Tokyo of products such as rice, soy sauce, vegetables and arts and crafts.

The historic district has so many Edo town houses that are more than a century old and, with the help of the government, are kept in a good state of repair. After the Meiji Restoration, some Western style architecture was also introduced.

I love cities with water, and there are so many small rivers throughout Sawara. This really adds to the peaceful and relaxed feel of Sawara.

Sawara is famous for its Summer Gion and Autumn festivals, with absolutely huge 'dashi' floats (10 in summer and 14 in autumn). I really want to go back in Autumn, or even just when it gets warmer!

I stayed in a cheap but clean hotel (Hotel Hokei - OK?!), bit cold, but I would stay there again. Again I was pleased though that my Japanese has come on a bit, because when I got there I needed to call the owner to check-in because there was nobody around even after I'd waited for about 10 minutes. He and his wife (who I met in the morning) were friendly enough, although I got the impression they didn't get too many Western foreigners there, by the ultra-ultra-politeness! No English spoken.

More photos at the link to the left.