One of Japan's largest Preservation Districts for Groups of Historic Buildings, Imai-cho retains its original moated settlement form and preserves approximately 500 traditional structures. The district was established during the Sengoku period as a temple town centered on the Jodo Shinshu temple Shonen-ji, and it once resisted Oda Nobunaga as a self-governing city. The town prospered to such a deg…

Imai-cho is believed to have been established in 1532 as a jinnai-cho (temple town) centered on Shonenji, a Jodo Shinshu (True Pure Land) Buddhist temple. During the Sengoku period, the settlement developed into a fortified autonomous community surrounded by moats and earthworks. The townspeople fie…