Right beneath the houses lies the sea! Approximately 230 boat houses line up around Ine Bay, forming the town nearest to the sea in Japan!! Boat houses are unique structures where the first floor serves as boat garages and the second floor as living quarters. This collection of about 230 boat houses in Ine Town is designated as an important preservation area for traditional buildings.
At the entrance of the bay stands Aoshima, resembling a natural breakwater, while Ine Bay, facing the Japan Sea, features a rare opening to the south. The bay maintains a tranquil atmosphere throughout the year due to its shape and minimal tidal fluctuations. Surrounding the bay, boat houses are positioned at the water's edge with their gable ends facing outward.
In the past, Ine Bay was abundant with fishing grounds, with horse mackerel fishing being particularly prevalent. Whale hunting, where town fishermen collectively drove whales that had entered the bay, was also practiced until the early Taisho period. During that time, most of the town's residents made a living as fishermen, and boat houses have existed since around the middle of the Edo period as garages to store their essential boats. These boats, typically small wooden vessels without engines, needed to be pulled into the boat houses daily to prevent deterioration. Boat houses feature sturdy pillars made of water-resistant oak on the first floor and locally sourced pine beams with elasticity on the second floor. Originally thatched, they transitioned to their current tiled, two-story structures from the early Showa period. Even today, boat houses serve as indispensable spaces for boat storage, equipment storage, and residences, passed down through generations of Ine residents. Ine's boat houses were the first in a fishing village nationwide to be designated as an important traditional building preservation area by the government.
【Area and Range】Approximately 310.2 hectares, about 2,650 meters east to west, about 1,700 meters north to south. Ine Bay in Ine-ura, facing the Wakasa Bay, is a rare calm inlet opening southward on the Japan Sea side, surrounded on three sides by mountains. At the almost midpoint where Ine Bay meets the Japan Sea, Aoshima, densely green, floats like a natural breakwater, dividing the entrance of Ine Bay into two.
Moreover, the steep rocky mountains surrounding Ine Bay plunge directly into the sea, forming deep abysses, creating an environment less conducive to wave formation. Furthermore, the tidal range in Ine Bay is extremely small (about 50 cm annually), making it a naturally calm harbor. The settlement of Ine-ura, consisting of about 350 households, stretches in a long, narrow strip along the approximately 5 km-long coastline of Ine Bay. Characterizing Ine-ura is the continuous row of boat houses along the coastline, with many rebuilt into two-story tiled structures during the buri boom from Meiji 13 (1880) to Showa 25 (1950). Additionally, from Showa 6 (1931) to about 10 years later, the extension project of the Ine Port Prefectural Road aimed to install a 4-meter-wide road between the boat houses and the main houses over a total length of about 5 km. This resulted in the relocation of boat houses and warehouses that were previously close to the main houses to the seaside and the transformation of many boat houses into two-story structures. However, the traditional scale and form have been maintained, and the continuous row of boat houses, maintaining the same form and scale, preserves the historical atmosphere, with about 230 boat houses standing along the coastline of Ine Bay to this day.
In Ine Town, there are various sightseeing spots and scenic attractions scattered throughout. We encourage you to explore them during your stay. Please take a look at the map that provides an overview of Ine Town, including tourist spots and the location of our inn.
> Ine Town Tourist Map It will be displayed on a separate page as a PDF file.