The year was 1700 when fire broke out from within the district and destroyed a large number of warehouses, residences, temples and shrines, causing great damage in a wide area of the city. Tokugawa Yoshimichi was the head of government as 4th lord of Owari, and on the aftermath ordered that streets in industrial and commercial zones must have at least four measures in width (about seven meters), as countermeasure against fire spreading among structures. Those “four measures” are believed to have been unusual and exaggerated for that time, denoting how the incident aggravated and preoccupied the lord. Pronunciation of those “four measures” is “shike”, giving birth to the area’s name, and literally meaning “Street of Four Measures”. Besides the wider passage ways, buildings had to have mud plastered walls instead of the simpler wooden ones, in order to function as fireproof, and windows had to be scarce and also covered in plaster, which made them bulky and thick as the walls themselves. The area features those gorgeous mud plastered white warehouses sitting atop bare stone foundations brought up as early as 1740.

Nowadays Shikemichi is a calm residential area mostly frequented by tourists or local residents moving to and fro from work, school or errands. While walking around, some old houses can be found which still feature the “Yanegamisama”, a small shrine mounted at the outside on the 2nd floor, and a tradition in the structures of Nagoya that honors the deities of Tsushima, Akiba, and Atsuta Shrines in order to ward off diseases and disasters. Other structures, despite their unfathomable age, still work as functional shops to this day, so visitors are able to get inside and see their precious engineering from inside. The number of old buildings is great and the people there warmly welcomes all, so this is a must for your visit to Nagoya.