Walking Kurosaki-juku, a post town on the Nagasaki Kaido

After walking on steep slopes of Ishisaka, we went to Kurosaki-juku (黒崎宿) around Kurosaki Station in Yahatanishi-ku, Kitakyushu. Kurosaki-juku was one of the important post stations (宿場 -shukuba) along the Nagasaki Kaido highway from Kokura to Nagasaki. It is now being developed as an industrial town where are many factories located there.

The Kurosaki Izutsuya (黒崎井筒屋) Department Store next to the station. The store was first opened in 1959 and moved to its present location in 2001. However, it'll be closed on May 31, 2019.

Kumade Shopping Arcade, a covered walkway in the shopping street of Kurosaki. The scale of the shopping district where is the ruins of the Nagasaki Kaido was quite large and it seems to be so crowded until the 1960s.

The Okitama-no-kami (興玉神) God, also known as Sarudahiko Okami (猿田彦大神), is enshrined in a small Shinto shrine.

About 380 m further down the road from the shrine, you can find the site of Kurosaki-juku West Gate. This is the end of the town.

After we say good-bye to Kurosaki-juku, we went to a nearby place called Magari (曲里) pine tree avenue. Pine trees are planted in the Edo period along the highway. These tree-lined streets can be found in Japan such as Nikko and Hakone.

The trees here are surrounded by buildings and houses, but only one corner of these trees still left as it is at that time.