Karatsu

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Kyomachi Shop Street Karatsu, Karatsu, Saga, Japan

Higashi Karatsu Station Park 20160806, Karatsu, Saga, Japan

Nabatake Site Matsuro kan Museum, Karatsu, Saga, Japan

View of Karatsu Power Station, Karatsu, Saga, Japan

About Karatsu

Facing a sweeping bay on the northwest coast of Kyushu, Karatsu has looked across the sea toward the Korean peninsula for two thousand years. Its very name is often read as port for Kara, an old word for the continent, and the remains of what may be some of Japan's earliest rice paddies were found here. In the early 1600s the lord Terasawa Hirotaka built a castle on a headland and planted the black pine forest that still shelters the shore.

Today the city blends castle-town lanes with fishing harbours and pottery studios. Karatsu ware, prized by tea masters, is still fired in local kilns, and every November the Karatsu Kunchi festival hauls giant lacquered floats through the streets. The mansion of a coal magnate, complete with an indoor Noh stage, recalls the boom years when coal was shipped from this port.

Since the 2005 mergers the city also takes in the Higashi-Matsuura Peninsula, home to the Yobuko morning market and its famous squid, the sea caves of Nanatsugama and the ruins of Hideyoshi's vast Nagoya Castle.

Best seasonSpring and autumn are mild; come on 2-4 November for Karatsu Kunchi, and summer for beaches.

Ideal stayTwo days: one for the city and pine grove, one for Yobuko and the peninsula.

ArrivingJR Chikuhi Line trains run through from the Fukuoka subway, reaching Karatsu in a little over an hour from central Fukuoka.

12 Unforgettable Things to Do in Karatsu

Landmarks 1

Karatsu Castle

Built in the early 17th century by Terasawa Hirotaka, the castle earned the nickname Maizuru, or dancing crane, because the pine f...

Nature 2

Niji-no-Matsubara

Counted among Japan's three great pine groves, this belt of around a million black pines runs for about five kilometres along the...

Nanatsugama Caves

Seven sea caves have been carved by the waves into the columnar basalt cliffs of the coast near Yobuko, and the site is protected...

Viewpoints 1

Kagamiyama Viewpoint

Mount Kagami rises behind the pine grove and offers the best-known view in the area: the long green arc of Niji-no-Matsubara, Kara...

Temples and Shrines 1

Karatsu Shrine

The main shrine of the old castle town sits near the centre, its torii and grounds the starting point of the Karatsu Kunchi festiv...

Museums 2

Karatsu Hikiyama Exhibition Hall

If you cannot be here for the Kunchi festival, this hall near Karatsu Shrine lets you see its fourteen huge floats, or hikiyama, a...

Nabatake Site Matsurokan

Excavations at Nabatake uncovered the remains of rice paddies dating to the very start of wet rice farming in Japan, with tools an...

History 2

Former Takatori Residence

This large seaside mansion was built for Takatori Korehiro, who made his fortune in the coal industry that once powered Karatsu's...

Hizen Nagoya Castle Ruins

On the Higashi-Matsuura Peninsula, Toyotomi Hideyoshi built a vast castle in 1591 as headquarters for his invasions of Korea, and...

Food and Drink 1

Yobuko Morning Market

Regarded as one of Japan's three great morning markets, this short street in the fishing port of Yobuko fills each morning with st...

Events 1

Karatsu Kunchi

Every year on 2-4 November the autumn festival of Karatsu Shrine fills the town with the chant of float teams hauling fourteen gia...

Arts 1

Nakazato Taroemon Kiln

Karatsu ware, earthy stoneware loved by tea masters for its quiet beauty, has been made in this area since the 16th century. The N...

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