Head north from Seki Station to a place where you can get a bird's-eye view of the road near the intersection merging with the Tokaido route—a building called the Chokantei, located inside the newly constructed Hyakurokuritei Park.

By taking the stairs up to the roof, you can look out over all of Sekijuku, making it arguably the perfect photographic location to capture the historic route's atmosphere.

As well as being a station town along the Tokaido route for traveling between Edo (present-day Tokyo) and Kyoto, Sekijuku was also located at the beginning of the Ise-betsu Kaido road, which leads on to the Ise Kaido road used by people pilgrimaging to Ise Grand Shrine from the Kansai direction.

That is why a shrine gate (torii) brought from Ise Grand Shrine stands in Sekijuku as a landmark still today. Today, over 200 townhouses built between the late-Edo and Meiji periods lining the streets of the route still exist. The area was selected in 1984 as a national Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings.

After gazing down at the townscape, next, it's time to go inside a real townhouse and delve deep into history.

This is the Sekijuku travelers' inn (hatagoya), Tamaya, said to have been in business in the 1800s. These hatagoya inns were akin to hotels, where samurai or common people could stay overnight, and were often used by people traveling between Edo and Kyoto or those on pilgrimages to Ise Grand Shrine.

Inside the Sekijuku Hatago Tamaya Historical Museum, you can experience the original atmosphere of the period, utilized in the form of displays of impressive objects and full-scale exhibitions.

Bedding materials used in the Edo period and historical materials related to commoners' travels are on display, so you can get a first-hand view of how the inn looked when it was in business.

Outside of the building is a garden. One of the attractions of this Japanese garden is that you can see woodblock printings of the 53 Tokaido Stations created by Hiroshige Utagawa, so be sure to check them out when you visit.

Recommended for lunch is Aizuya, located on the Western side of Sekijuku. The menu items using mainly local ingredients are top-rated, and many tourists come for the famous local dish of okowa rice with edible wild vegetables (sansai okowa gohan).

Aizuya prides itself on using local ingredients and all hand-made dishes, employing nearby local homemakers who use their cooking skills in the kitchen. Their traditional cooking is popular as a taste of true Sekijuku home-cooking.

The rice with edible wild vegetables (sansai okowa) that comes with the recommended meal set (O-susume teishoku, 1500 yen, tax included) is made with Mie Prefecture-grown non-glutinous and glutinous rice and Mie chicken and has a distinctive, pleasantly chewy texture.

The soba noodle soup made with high-quality Hidaka kelp, dried bonito flakes, and several Mie Prefecture soy sauces also has a profound smell and taste. All of the stews, pickles, and other dishes using locally grown vegetables are flavorful masterpieces.

In addition to lunch, Aizuya also carries locally brewed sake you'll only find here, so it's a good opportunity to get a full experience of the tastes of Sekijuku.

Jikonka SEKI was opened by its owners, a married couple enamored with the Sekijuku area, and offers original dishware and clothing for sale.

As you can see in the photo, you can choose from among the simple, unembellished items. You'll want to stop by this store for its offerings not only of the products for sale, but also of classes in which you can make your own original T-shirt.

For the indigo-dyeing class in which you can make your own original T-shirt, while you do need a reservation ahead of time, groups of four or five people can take the class at the same time. The class requires approximately 1-2 hours.

If you bring your own shirt to dye, you can participate for 40 yen per gram by weight of the shirt. Instructors will patiently teach you how to dye clothing, using the dye in the large vat shown in the photograph.

After the indigo-dyeing class, you can drink the shop's original tea. At the dining space provided within the studio, you can enjoy the indigo leaf tea for 500 yen (tax included), or the original flavor of Ise shoseikan tea for 800 yen (tax included), the shop's unique variation on the Chinese xiao qing gan tea, or pu-erh tea leaves stuffed inside mandarin oranges.

As well as being printed in newspapers as a target of Sekijuku building preservation efforts, Shiratama-ya Maeda brings back popular Edo sweets. Shiratama were mochi rice cake sweets common in the Edo period.

Shiratama-ya recreated the sweets as a taste of the past, and they are now popular as favorite items of local children and tourists alike. What better way to end your sightseeing trip than buying these famous local treats to bring back home?

You can buy Shiratama (90 yen, tax included) individually or in boxed sets, such as the 10-piece set. The coloring is inspired by the four seasons, with green representing spring, red summer, yellow autumn, and white as winter. The soft-textured and velvety mochi filled with smooth red bean paste gives this treat an elegant taste.

While buying shiratama, many people pick up some koman as well. These are baked Japanese sweets made with either chestnut, peach, or Japanese apricot-flavored white bean paste surrounded by a layer of egg yolk bean paste.

With their fruit flavor accents and moist texture, these treats are often selected as souvenir gifts or snacks. You can buy chestnut (kuri) koman for 200 yen, peach (momo) koman for 180 yen, and apricot (ume) koman for 180 yen (all prices tax included).

Text by:gain