福岡県の文化と歴史・6

Taihaku Dori/Main Street

When visitors arrive at Hakata Station(Fukuoka City) by train, bus, or via subway from the airport, exiting on the Hakata side, you will see a big boulevard diagonally running straight down on the right is called Taihaku Dori/大博通り.

This street was paved right after the war in 1587 by Hideyoshi Toyotomi(most likely the original idea was adapted from Nobunaga Oda) on the highest elevations of the sandy land down to the Hakata Bay.  The grid layout system called Taikou-Machiwari paved a way for new quarters called Nagare  (流れ・Nagare、literally translated to Flow as you hear the term flow in Hakata Yamagasa festival today) to expand trade to Mainland Asia.

So next time when you are on Taihaku Dori, remember this is where it all began for city planning in Hakata/Fukuoka as you see it today. ^__^