Ouchijuku is located in Fukushima prefecture, a former post town along the Aizu-Nishi Kaido trade route, which connected Aizu with Nikko during the Edo Period. Restrictions set by the shogunate required travelers to make their long journeys on foot and as a result, post towns developed along the routes to provide travelers with food, accommodations and rest.
Today, Ouchijuku has been restored to look as it did in the Edo Period with telephone and electricity wires buried. The unpaved main street is lined by thick thatched roof buildings, which house a variety of shops, restaurants and minshuku (small traditional Japanese inns). Soba noodles and locally caught char fish roasted on sticks are popular specialties.
Ouchijuku is one of the must-see tourist spots in this area.
Chusonji is Hiraizumi's most popular attraction, which was established in 850 as a temple of the Tendai sect of Buddhism.
The temple came to prominence when the northern branch of the Fujiwara clan moved theirbase to Hiraizumi. At its peak, the temple consisted of a large network of dozens of buildings.
With the fall of the Fujiwara at the end of the 12th century, Chusonji suffered likewise so that now only two buildings from that era remain intact.
Luckily, among these is the most spectacular, the Konjikido. Similar to Kyoto's well known Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion). Konjikido is a hall completely covered in gold.
