Ride on a flat boat through the canals of Yanagawa castle, pushed by a boatman with a pole; ticket ~1.500-2.500 ¥.
Yanagawa, 40 kilometres south of Fukuoka, is one of the most picturesque cities in Kyushu: a former castle town of the Edo period crossed by a network of historic canals more than 930 kilometres long, built in the 16th century as a defensive system for Yanagawa castle. The ride on the donko-bune —flat wooden boats pushed by a boatman with a pole, without a motor— through the inner canals has become the most popular tourist experience in Kyushu outside Fukuoka. The route lasts between 60 and 70 minutes and runs under stone bridges, between the walls of wooden houses with hanging gardens and under the willows and the sakura that line the canals. The boatman sings traditional Yanagawa songs as he pushes the boat. The ticket costs between 1.500 and 2.500 ¥ depending on the route and the company. The most popular final destination is the Ohana garden with the Matsukaze-no-ma stately villa, where you can eat unaju (eel over rice, Yanagawa's other great speciality). It is reached from Hakata on the Nishitetsu train in 35 minutes.
