Wakimachi Udatsu District in Mima City preserves an Edo-Meiji merchant street that flourished from the indigo trade. Wealthy merchants' homes feature firewall extensions called "udatsu," giving the street its name—the origin of the Japanese idiom "udatsu ga agaranai" (to not get ahead). A designated Important Preservation District.

Wakimachi developed as a key transportation hub along the Yoshino River in the medieval period, serving as a distribution center for goods in Awa Province. During the early Edo period, commerce flourished under the patronage of the Awa domain (Hachisuka clan), aided by river transport along the Yosh…