Mitarai Historic Townscape Preservation District

Mitarai is a historic port town located at the eastern end of Osaki Shimojima, which floats in the Seto Inland Sea in Toyo, Kure City, Hiroshima Prefecture. During the Edo period, it flourished as a port for tide and wind waiting along the Seto Inland Sea maritime routes, hosting visits from northern trading ships, Korean diplomatic missions, daimyo attending Sankin-kōtai, and even foreign visitors like Siebold. In 1994, the nearly complete preservation of its townscape was recognized, and it was designated as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Historic Buildings.

Upon entering the town, merchant houses, maritime merchant warehouses, traditional restaurants, Western-style buildings, and Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples built from the Edo period through the Meiji, Taisho, and early Showa periods cluster densely within a mere few hundred meters, giving visitors the sensation of stepping onto a period drama film set. Notable structures include the Otome-za, a theater from the early Showa period featuring one of Japan's oldest Western-style clock towers; the magnificent Edo Port Town Exhibition Hall, built by a northern trading ship owner; the maritime merchant warehouse ruins of Wakagoshi-ya; and the Ochi Clinic, a former Wakisaka-ya that once thrived as a tide-waiting teahouse.

Mitarai also had a pleasure district known as "teahouses," where over 100 women worked during its peak. The poignant stories surrounding these women and episodes of late Edo period patriots such as Sakamoto Ryoma, Yoshida Shoin, and Ito Hirobumi stopping by make it a treasure trove of historical narratives. Every detail—narrow alleyways, stone-paved streets, old wells, the stone breakwater called Sensashinami, and stone lanterns along the waterfront—conveys traces of bygone days.

Osaki Shimojima is connected to the mainland by a series of bridges known as the Tobishima Kaido, making it accessible by car or rental bicycle while crossing the islands. The calm beauty of many islands in the Seto Inland Sea and the miraculously preserved Edo port town charm make it one of the finest hidden gems in the Seto Inland Sea for travelers seeking nostalgic strolls and historical romance.