Sawara

Sawara grew on the Ono river as a shipping town moving rice down to Edo, and the merchant houses and storehouses along the canal survive well enough that it is a designated preservation district - the first in Chiba. Willows lean over the water, stone steps go down to it, and small boats run the channel. The name attached to the town is Ino Tadataka, a sake and rice merchant here who retired from business at fifty, went to Edo to study astronomy under a teacher twenty years younger, and then spent seventeen years from 1800 walking the coasts of Japan measuring by pace and star sighting; the map he produced was accurate enough that it was still being used decades later. His house stands by the canal and a museum opposite holds his instruments and surveys. The town's float festivals in July and October are UNESCO-registered.

What you actually see

• A canal of merchant houses - willows, stone steps and storehouses along the Ono river.
• Ino Tadataka's house - the merchant who mapped Japan on foot from the age of fifty-five.
• His instruments and maps - in the museum across the canal from the house.
• The float festivals - UNESCO-registered processions in July and October.

When to go

July or October for the festivals; April to November otherwise. Half a day.

Honest expectations

The preserved stretch is short - a few hundred metres of canal. Many shops close early and on Mondays. Boat trips depend on water conditions. Festival dates crowd a small town heavily.

Nearby

Katori Jingu is south; Narita and its temple are west.