Top Things to do in Okazaki
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The 10 Best Things to Do in Okazaki, Japan
Discover the best top things to do in Okazaki, Japan including Hatcho Miso no Sato, Okazaki Castle, Daijuji Temple, Higashi Park, Okazaki Minami Park, Okazaki Park, Okazaki Service Area, Hatchokura-dori, Okazaki Children's Museum of Art, The Ieyasu and Mikawa Bushi Museum.
Restaurants in Okazaki
1. Hatcho Miso no Sato
Overall Ratings
4 based on 95 reviews
Reviewed By Beaucaillou - Germany
Starting with their national cultural heritage building, our guide escorted us to the history of Kakukyu company chronically. Guided tour is only in Japanese. Guided tour begins with pre-registration every 30 minutes between 9:30 to 12:00 in the morning and 13:00 to 16:00 in the afternoon. In the museum part of building one can see not only miso making tools but also ancient Kimono which was wore when the owner brought freshly made miso to load in Okazaki castle. In the end of tour, we had 3 kinds of tasting; haccho-miso soup, Akadashi miso-soup and Konjac with haccho-miso sauce. This visit and tasting takes nearly an hour and it is free of charge. After the visit, we went to their restaurant where we could taste series of haccho-miso meal and Nagoya specialties.
2. Okazaki Castle
Overall Ratings
4 based on 267 reviews
Reviewed By ART196
Castle keeps don’t often contain the best Exhibitions within even though they mostly function as museums, because their main draw relies on spectacle, but Okazakijō is different. It has a glorious collection of models and artefacts. Unfortunately these collections are jealously guarded and pictures are prohibited within the museum. There is also a separate museum dedicated to the life and times of Tokugawa Ieyasu in the castle park. Period players perform martial arts shows in front of here and I talked with one such lady performer, performing as Komatsu-hime (the ladies always win so they’re worth cheering for). There is small traditional clock tower in the park. On the hour a karakuri (edo-era wooden robot) emerged and performed Noh theatre (pictured). I’d been wanting to see a Karakuri ningyō for a while and suddenly out of nowhere, to my immense delight, one appears from inside the clock in the castle park!
History:
Okazakijō is where Tokugawa Ieyasu was born in 1542. He was called Matsudaira Motoyasu as a child and stayed at Okazakijō until he was 9, when he was handed over to the Imagawa clan as a hostage as part of a peace deal between Oda Nobunaga and Imagawa Sassai. Ieyasu lived in Sunpujō until he was 13, there upon he took his first wife (get in there, my son). He returned to Okazakijō and became lord of the castle aged 18. Ten years later he left to make his headquarters in Hamamatsujō, and left Nobuyasu, his eldest son, in charge of Okazakijō. Nobuyasu stayed there for at least 5 years and participated in the battle of Nagashino. But he fell from grace thereafter, and was exiled and eventually ordered to commit suicide in 1579 by his father at the behest of his father-in-law, Oda Nobunaga (well, you can’t choose your family).
Lords of Okazakijō throughout the Edo-jidai were humbly fiefed but enjoyed a great amount of political power. Okazakijō also had the strategic importance of being located along the Tōkaidō (East Sea Road). The castle was demolished in 1871 by the Meiji authorities, but the castle’s surroundings today form a large park with wall and moat segments remaining. The tenshu was reconstructed out of concrete in 1959.
3. Daijuji Temple
Overall Ratings
4 based on 69 reviews
Reviewed By kentarotetsu - Okazaki, Japan
Daijuji temple is one of the official Tokugawa Shogun family's temple. The one and only display of the IHAIs (Buddist mortuary tablet) of the 14 Shoguns who ruled Japan during the Edo period is awesome. Although there were 15 Shoguns, the last Shogun Yoshinobu insisted on Shinto burial, thus having no Ihai to display. Each ihai represents the physical height of the shogun. Quite interesting to see that Ieyasu (the first shogun) was relatively tall. Tsunayoshi (5th shogun) ihai is very short, coinsinding with the general belief that he was a frail man.
4. Higashi Park
5. Okazaki Minami Park
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 50 reviews
Reviewed By David C - Brisbane, Australia
Okazaki Minami Park (South Park) is small but fairly open park with a few basic rides and attractions geared for primary school aged children (though adults and older children can enjoy them too!).
There are a couple of children's play areas (sand covered no grass) with swings and slides one side and some open fields (grass covered) around the other side which allow children to run around and play.
Most rides cost between 60 - 100 yen per person per time so they're not that expensive.
There is parking for a few cars though the car park can fill up during public holidays.
Minami Park is quite good for a picnic lunch and playing in the open spaces with children before going on a few rides. It's an easy way to spend a couple of slow hours in the afternoon.
6. Okazaki Park
Overall Ratings
3.5 based on 119 reviews
7. Okazaki Service Area
Overall Ratings
4 based on 66 reviews
Reviewed By CanuckJames - Nishinomiya, Japan
Not all Service Area (SA) and Parking Area (PA) are the same.
This is one of the few stops that actually has a Starbucks and a 7-11. They also have a bakery that is one of our favorites. A custard bun that is really tasty.
We always stop at this SA going to and between Tokyo and Osaka.
8. Hatchokura-dori
Overall Ratings
3.5 based on 49 reviews
Reviewed By たぬきおやじ - Tokyo, Japan
八丁蔵通りは 【ｶｸｷｭｰ八丁味噌】と【まるや八丁味噌】の西側沿いにある通りですが 工場景観が一般的な近代工場と異なり 黒塀を持ち、それでいて 規模も大きいので 見応えがあります。【ｶｸｷｭｰ八丁味噌】や【まるや八丁味噌】に来られ 時間的に30分程度の余裕があれば こちらにも足を伸ばされることをお薦めします。2社の八丁味噌蔵で仕込み桶をﾊﾞｯｸにした記念撮影をされる方が多いと思いますが こちらも記念写真の撮影ｽﾎﾟｯﾄとしてお薦めします。
9. Okazaki Children's Museum of Art
Overall Ratings
4 based on 23 reviews
Reviewed By Artur A - Chicago, United States
Another place to let kids play. There are many activities to craft. Each room is dedicated to a different skill, where you buy a kit and the parents help as or if needed. The mushroom playground outside help unwind afterwards.
10. The Ieyasu and Mikawa Bushi Museum
Overall Ratings
4 based on 43 reviews
Reviewed By Artur A - Chicago, United States
History of Ieasu Tokugawa and the events leading to his ascension to power and military success. On occasion actors dress in samurai garb perform on the plaza in front.
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