The townscape of old time Japan is preserved in Kurayoshi City, Tottori Prefecture. Storage houses of sake brewers and soybean sauce makers built from the Edo to Meiji periods stand along the Tamagawa River in the city. They remind us of the former splendor back to the days when Kurayoshi flourished as a commercial town. The building style of these storage houses with white plaster walls, red roofs and baseboard panels made of burned cedar wood is characteristic to this region. Small stone bridges are built across the river to connect the storage houses and the residences. Walking leisurely along the river and viewing this quiet townscape, you be unaware of the passage of time. Presently, most of the storage houses are modified into shops, where you can buy and experience traditional handicraft of this town and take a rest over a cup of coffee.
Kurayoshi is the hometown of Makita Jinemon, who had been the general manager of Yodoya, one of the wealthiest mercantile houses in Osaka in the Edo period. After the fortune of Yodoya was confiscated by the Tokugawa Shogunate, Makita returned to his hometown and resuscitated Yodoya in Kurayoshi. The graveyard of Makita Yodoya family is located at Dairenji Temple in the city.