Matsuzaki-juku

• Japanese: 松崎宿 (Matsuzaki juku)

Matsuzaki-juku, located in the city of Ogori in Fukuoka prefecture, was a post-town, or juku, along the Matsuzaki kaidô, a major thoroughfare used by those traveling across Kyushu and/or to and from Edo.

The post-town boasted 129 inns, including honjin and waki-honjin where the Shimazu, Hosokawa, and Tachibana clan entourages of Satsuma han, Kumamoto han, and Yanagawa han respectively, traveling to Edo on sankin kôtai, would stay. These, along with other large-scale inns in the town known as hatago numbered 26. Local authorities such as the shôya and machi bettô managed the town.

Stone piles known as kamae-guchi, flanking two sides of the road, also survive, and are all that remains of the main gate of the post-town. Kamae-guchi remains at other post-towns are quite similar.

A hatago inn called the Abura-ya is the only one in the town to survive; it is today maintained as a historical site. The Abura-ya originally consisted of two buildings: the larger one, known as the omoya (主屋), was used by general guests, while the smaller one off to the side, known as the tsuno-zashiki (角座敷), was reserved for samurai and other high-ranking guests, to have space to themselves.

References

• Signs and plaques on-site at the various historical sites within the Matsuzaki-juku area. As seen in Matsuzaki Shuku Video by KyushuDan of Japanese-Castle-Explorer.com. Accessed 18 Sept 2011.