Kitano-machi北野町

An exotic district with old western style houses. Hilly street of Yamate enhances the international atmosphere.

Kitano is a town on the hills north of San-no-miya. In the late 19th century, foreigners who moved from Kobe, built their houses in a western style in memory of their homes, on the high hills of Yamate overlooking the sea.


The street that runs from east to west of Kitano is called Ijinkan-dori Street or the Foreigner House Street, and is the main street of Kitano. Fudo-zaka Slope, that stretches from the east end of Ijinkan-dori Street towards north, and Hunter-zaka Slope that runs north from the middle of Ijinkan-dori Street, are lined with sophisticated boutiques and international cuisine restaurants.

In the area around Kitano-dori Street, that runs from east to west on the northern side of Kitano, many foreigners built their houses between the 19th and early 20th century. These houses called Ijinkan, the foreigners' houses, are designated as National Important Cultural Properties. In particular, Kazamidori-no-yakata or the Weathercock House, is typical of Kitano. The architectural style of Rain-no-yakata, a National Important Cultural Property, is typical of a foreigner's house. Uroko-no-ie has a characteristic wall of scale-like design, and its antique furniture and collection of western porcelain is famous. Its first floor is open to the public as a tea-room. A number of these buildings, along with their collections, are open to the public, as in the case of Yamate-hachiban-kan, once owned by a Spaniard, in which Spanish armor and shields and furniture from the Middle Ages are exhibited.