Journeys in photographs and words.

Places we stopped along the way

Omihachiman, Shiga

Marutake Omi Nishikawa

From: A day in Omihachiman, where boats glide through town

The front of the butcher's shop with its Omi beef sign and noren
The front of the butcher's shop with its Omi beef sign and noren

An Omi beef shop founded in 1947, with a butcher's counter and a restaurant, selling beef raised on its own farm. Old photographs and a cattle lineage chart hang inside.

16 Nakayamachi-naka, Omihachiman, Shiga

Sources: oumi-marutake.jp tabelog.com

This moment in the journey

An Omi beef shop, and home along Shinmachi street

Through the shrine's torii, hung with a sacred rope and straw ornaments, I walked to a butcher's whose sign reads "Omi beef." The shop deals in Omi beef the old-fashioned way; old photographs of cattle being led and grazing line the walls, along with a chart tracing the lineage of the cows they raise. Omi beef was something I definitely wanted to taste.

I walked home along the elegant Shinmachi street. After dark, the Hachimanbori canal glowed under orange lights, the shadows of cherry branches wavering on the water.

Watch this scene on YouTube3:33

Read this scene in the full journey

The shrine's torii gate hung with a sacred rope and straw ornaments
The shrine's torii gate hung with a sacred rope and straw ornaments
A wall of old photographs of cattle being led and grazing
A wall of old photographs of cattle being led and grazing
A chart tracing the lineage of the cattle
A chart tracing the lineage of the cattle
The entrance of the townhouse on Shinmachi street
The entrance of the townhouse on Shinmachi street
The Hachimanbori canal lit orange at night
The Hachimanbori canal lit orange at night