Historic Kyōmachi Street
The discovery of gold near Aikawa in 1596 transformed what had been a small seaside village into a boomtown of 50,000 residents. At the height of the town’s prosperity, this avenue had a thriving nightlife to rival even the pleasure districts of Kyoto.
Kyōmachi Street runs through the heart of old Aikawa, connecting the magistrate’s office in the west to the mine entrance in the east. The wooden houses that line the street today were mostly built in the early twentieth century, after the mine was sold to Mitsubishi Gōshi Kaisha (now the Mitsubishi Corporation). The well-preserved row houses that line the main road were formerly company housing for mine workers, but today they are mostly private residences.
The gold rush attracted people from all walks of life, and many of the old neighborhoods are still named for the occupations of their former inhabitants, such as “salt-maker district” (shioya-chō), “miso-maker district” (misoya-chō), or “grocer district” (yaoya-chō). Even the name “Kyōmachi” (literally, “district of the capital”) was coined when a clothier began selling fabric from Kyoto’s famous Nishijin textiles district.
A walk down Kyōmachi Street can feel like a journey back to an era when gold flowed from the hills and Aikawa was a company mining town. Summer evenings are especially atmospheric. During the Yoi no Mai festival in early June, residents in traditional garb parade through the lantern-lit street, dancing to Aikawa Ondo folk music. An antique bell tower, built in 1712 and restored in 1860, still rings to mark the start and end of each day.