Nagoya’s old town – Shikemichi and Endoji shopping street

18/11/2025

Contents

Best walking trip from Nagoya station

Inuyama castle
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Nagoya is a large city located between Tokyo and Osaka, and is said to be the most boring big city in Japan. As a Japanese who has lived in Nagoya for over ten years, that opinion is correct. There are certainly fewer attractions compared to Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto. I think this is because it is a city of automobile manufacturing Toyota, and most of the historical things were destroyed in the air raids by the American military during the World War Ⅱ. However, some historical scenery still remains in an area close to Nagoya station where modern buildings are prominent. You can enjoy this area on foot from Nagoya station. In this page I would like to share these historical areas called Shikemichi and Endoji shopping streets.

Shikemichi

Shikemichi is a little closer to Nagoya Station compared to Endoji shopping street, so I will explain from Shikemichi. The nearest station of Shikemichi is Kokusai Center Station of the Sakura dori line, but if you are coming to Nagoya Station for the first time, I recommend walking to Shikemichi from Nagoya station. It takes １5 minutes on foot and you can also enjoy modern building around Nagoya station　during walking. Shikemichi is a district where the scenery of the Edo period(between 1603 and 1868) has been preserved. There may be many readers who are not interested in Japanese history, but I will also explain a little bit of history. “Shike” means seven meters in the old Japanese language and “Michi” means street in Japanese. Of course we do not use “Shike” as seven meters in modern Japanese. This “Shike” is from the width of this street. Many of the merchant houses in this area were destroyed in the great fire of 1700, and then the street was widened to “seven meters(Shike)” for fire prevention purposes.

The buildings on the east side of the street are set on stone walls and have white plaster walls. This structure is also to prevent the fire from spreading to the next door in the event of a fire.

The old houses in Shikemichi have unique features. On the second floor, there is something resembling a shrine (see the red-framed area in the photo). This is dedicated to the god of the roof, a custom unique to Nagoya.

The preserved buildings are now used as cafes and restaurants. I heard these are quite popular, so I do not know if I can enter and use them or not without reservation. Please check the reviews on Google Maps for this area when you want to eat something there. I was alone that day so I did not use the cafe, but rather enjoyed walking around and taking photos. This street is not that long. It takes about five minutes if you walk fast.

Endoji shopping street

Endonji Shopping Street is an area where the townscape remains after World War II. After the war, there were factories and a train station in this area, so there were a lot of people. Endoji Shopping Streets met the needs of those people. However, both the factory and the station were closed and Endoji Shopping Streets were nearly closed as well. Since then, the area has also faced challenges such as population decline, the rise of large shopping malls and online shopping. However, the community has been working hard to attract visitors by organizing various events to revitalize the area. Recently, Endoji Shopping Street is famous and attracts many tourists.

As a Japanese person in my 30s, I felt like a nostalgic old Japan like the 70s to 80s when looking at old souvenir shops. These shopping streets also have modern bar cafes and restaurants which are newly constructed.

Map

Name	Explanation
① Endoji temple	The origin of the shopping street’s name.
② Kanpira shrine	A small shrine established in 1859.
③ Cafe Matsuba	Nagoya’s first café(Kissaten)
④ Gojo bridge	A bridge built specifically for the construction of Nagoya Castle.
⑤ Senshuji temple	A temple established in 1657.
⑥ Ito residence	A merchant’s residence from the Edo period.
⑦ Nakamura’s house	A house with a rooftop shrine dedicated to the “Yane-gami-sama” deity.
⑧ Jizo statue	300-year-old Jizo statue
⑨ Sengen shrine	A shrine dedicated to Mount Fuji.

Walking through Shikemichi and Endoji Shopping Street takes about 30 minutes, but the surrounding area is rich with historical buildings and old structures. I’ve compiled a table of notable sites, but there are also unique scenes to discover. It’s worth exploring not just the main streets but also the narrow alleys for a deeper look.

Events

As I mentioned earlier, Endoji Shopping Street hosts various events throughout the year. Two of the most notable ones are the Tanabata Festival in summer and the Paris Festival in autumn. I attended both in 2024. While the Tanabata Festival was more of a struggle due to the heat making it hard to walk around, the Paris Festival was genuinely enjoyable.

Our map

I’ve compiled a list of Nagoya’s places that I’ve personally visited. Is Nagoya boring? Not at all! While it has developed as an industrial city, it also hides interesting places full of history and culture. Use this guide to explore Nagoya and discover its hidden gems.