~3.5h — the round trip from the gangway, with the 60-minute margin kept aside.
Tap a photo to see it large. 7 photographs, each credited.
The castle-site park above downtown — lotus moats, a small keep, and in late April the cherry tunnel Akita waits all winter for.
The site of Kubota Castle, seat of the Satake clan from 1604, demolished in the Meiji era and now a park in the middle of the city. Little is reconstructed; what remains is earthworks, moats, and about 700 cherry trees, which is what most Japanese castle sites actually are.
Kubota Castle, seat of the Satake lords, was built without a stone keep or stone walls — unusual in Japan, and variously attributed to shogunal restrictions and to cost. What is left is earthworks, moats, and a reconstructed corner turret in a park that the city uses daily.
Ten minutes away, the Akarenga-kan is an 1912 bank building in red brick and white stone that survived the war and the century. It now holds the woodblock prints of Katsuhira Tokushi, who drew Akita farm life in the 1930s and 40s with a directness that has aged extremely well.
Both pins on one map, so the distance is a fact rather than a feeling.
Each of these still lands you back aboard with the hour to spare on a 6-hour stop ashore.
The site of Kubota Castle, the Satake lords' seat, which was built without a stone keep or stone walls — what survives is earthworks, moats and a reconstructed corner turret. It is a working city park with around 700 cherry trees that flower in late April with evening lanterns.
Yes, but for the art rather than the building. The 1912 red-brick bank now holds the woodblock prints of Katsuhira Tokushi, who documented Akita farm life in the 1930s and 40s with a directness that has aged very well. Entry is around ¥210 and it is ten minutes from Senshu Park.
Each one is a finished day we have walked and timed, with this stop in it. Read the route rather than assembling it yourself.
Each of these still lands you back aboard with the hour to spare.
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