Okage Yokochō

おかげ横丁Mie

Food area

What makes this place special?

At a Glance

Okage Yokochō is a district of rebuilt traditional streets in front of Ise Grand Shrine's Inner Shrine in Ise, Mie Prefecture. It recreates gate-town streets of the late Edo and early Meiji periods, when pilgrims flocked to Ise, in the middle of Oharai-machi. Its 28 buildings, completed in 1993, copy or relocate Ise-style wooden houses, warehouses from Ise Kawasaki and a Western-style house from Kuwana.

About 50 shops sell local specialities and souvenirs, among them the main shop of Akafuku, maker of the Ise sweet akafuku mochi, whose subsidiary runs the district. No gates separate it from Oharai-machi, so it is an open street rather than a theme park. Okageza, a theatre-style hall, shows the Edo-period pilgrimages to Ise with video and half-scale models. The name carries two meanings: the okage-mairi pilgrimage and gratitude to the shrine for the chance to keep trading.