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Mino Udatsu Townscape

Locally knownKnown to people who live here. Not in the international guidebooks.

Researched and written by Hinato

udatsuMino washipreservation districtImai residenceMino

Photo: Fumihiko Ueno / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0) · original

Every prefecture has a site locals point to first; in Gifu, Mino Udatsu Townscape is usually it.

An udatsu is a fireproof wall built up above the roofline between neighbouring houses. They were expensive, so having one said you had money, and the phrase for failing to get on in life in Japanese is still that your udatsu never rose. Mino's merchant street has more of them standing than anywhere else in the country, on both sides for two blocks.

The money came from paper. Mino washi has been made here for over 1,300 years, the hand-made variety is on the UNESCO intangible heritage list, and the wholesalers who traded it built these houses. The largest is the Imai residence, a mid-Edo paper wholesaler's house that is the biggest townhouse in Mino, with a suikinkutsu water chime in the courtyard listed among Japan's hundred soundscapes. Entry is ¥300, or ¥400 combined with the washi lamp art museum.

Plan your visit

Hours

Streets open at all times | Imai residence keeps daytime hours

Closed: Streets open year-round | Museum has its own rest days

Time to allow

90 minutes – 2 hours

Admission

Free streets | Imai residence ¥300 from high school age | ¥400 combined with the Washi Akari Art Museum

Best time to visit

Year-round | October for the paper lantern exhibition

Finding your way there

Access notes

Central Mino, about a short walk from Minoshi Station on the Nagaragawa Railway. The streets are free to walk and are a national Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings. The former Imai residence and Mino Museum charges ¥300 for adults from high school age, ¥250 for groups of 20 or more, or ¥400 for a combined ticket with the Mino Washi Akari Art Museum. The courtyard suikinkutsu is listed among Japan's 100 Soundscapes.

Historical notes & tips

**Look up.** The udatsu are above the eaves, between the houses, and the whole street reads differently once you have registered what they are and why they cost money. **Listen at the suikinkutsu.** The buried water chime in the Imai courtyard is on the national hundred soundscapes list. It takes patience and near-silence to hear properly. **Take the combined ticket.** ¥400 for the Imai house plus the washi lamp museum, against ¥300 for the house alone. The lamp museum is where the paper stops being a commodity. **Paper is why the town exists.** Mino washi has been made here for more than 1,300 years and the hand-made variety is UNESCO-listed. The merchants who built these houses were paper wholesalers. **Evening in October for the lamp festival.** The Mino Washi Akari Art Exhibition fills the street with paper lanterns for one weekend and is the one time the town is crowded.

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