Sakata

Sakata is a port city on the Sea of Japan coast in Yamagata Prefecture. During the Edo period, it was a key stop for kitamaebune trading ships carrying rice and goods between Osaka and Hokkaido. The Sankyo Warehouses, a row of black-walled rice storehouses backed by zelkova trees, are the most recognisable sight and still partly in use today. The Honma Museum of Art, founded by the wealthy Honma merchant family, has a collection of local art and a traditional Japanese garden. Mount Haguro, one of the three sacred Dewa Sanzan mountains, is about an hour away by car and has a famous stone stairway through old-growth cedar forest leading to a hilltop shrine. Sakata's seafood is fresh and affordable, with sashimi, grilled squid, and rice bowls at the shops near the port. The city is compact and quiet. Yamagata sake, brewed with local mountain water, is easy to find and worth tasting.