Yanagawa

Yanagawa sits on the Chikugo delta and its canal network - some 470 kilometres in total across the district - was cut from the sixteenth century as a combination of castle moat, irrigation and drainage, and it still does the drainage job. The donkobune are flat punts poled by a boatman standing at the stern along about four kilometres of the central channels, under low stone bridges that require passengers to duck, past willows, brick walls, private gardens and the back doors of houses, with the boatman singing and pointing things out over the course of an hour. In winter the boats have a kotatsu, a heated table, under a cover. Ohana, the residence of the Tachibana family who held the domain, has a Japanese garden and a Western-style building of 1910. The local dish is seiromushi, steamed eel on rice in a bamboo box, and it is what the town is known for.

Highlights

• Punted flat boats - poled along four kilometres of central canals past willows.
• Low stone bridges - passengers ducking as the boat goes under them.
• A 470-kilometre network - moat, irrigation and drainage cut from the sixteenth century.
• Seiromushi - steamed eel on rice in a bamboo box, the town's dish.

When to go

All year; winter boats have heated tables under covers. Half a day.

What to expect

Boats do not run in high water and are cancelled after heavy rain. Commentary and songs are in Japanese. Eel restaurants queue at lunch and are expensive. The town outside the canals is ordinary.

Nearby

Fukuoka is north; Kumamoto is south.