Takehara, the Hiroshima salt town that an anime and a morning drama both borrowed

Takehara grew rich on salt and sake along the Seto Inland Sea coast of Hiroshima Prefecture. Its old merchant quarter later became the setting for two quiet fictions: Tamayura (たまゆら), an anime about a teenage girl learning to take photographs, and Massan (マッサン), the NHK morning drama of 2014–15 about the founder of Japanese whisky. Neither invented much. Both mostly looked closely at what was already there.

The street the camera already knew

The preserved district follows a few hundred metres of Honmachi-dōri (本町通り), lined with lattice windows, plaster walls and tiled roofs. In 1982 it was designated a national preservation district for traditional buildings, and that status is the reason the street still matches the frame. Wires, signs and new façades are kept in check by rules, not by nostalgia.

Viewers of Tamayura will recognise the climb to Saihō-ji (西方寺) and its vermilion hall, Fumeikaku (普明閣), which stands on wooden stilts above the rooftops. From its railing the whole quarter folds into one view of grey tile running toward the hills. It is the town's best viewpoint, and it was in the anime long before most pilgrims arrived.

A brewery with two stories

Taketsuru Shuzō (竹鶴酒造), a family sake brewery, still operates on the main street. Masataka Taketsuru was born into this family in 1894, studied distilling in Scotland and went on to found Nikka. Massan told his story with a different name on the screen. The brewery itself is a working business, so its front shop matters more than the drama does.

Walking it as a guest

Takehara Station is on the JR Kure Line, and express buses run from central Hiroshima in a little over an hour. The quarter is about fifteen minutes' walk from the station. Weekday mornings are quietest, and the light on the lattices is softer before noon.

Most houses on the street are homes, not sets. Photograph from the road, keep out of doorways and leave the side alleys to the people who live along them.

町並みの家の多くは、今も誰かの住まいです。