Lunch at Ganso Motoyoshiya and a stroll along Yanagawa’s canals

10 November 2024

Yanagawa is a city in southern Fukuoka Prefecture that is dubbed 'the Venice of Kyushu'. It is known for its 930 kilometers of waterway which was originally built as irrigation channels using the water from the Chikogu River. Today, the canals serve as a peaceful and picturesque way to tour the city on a river boat, guided by the city's unique boatmen. Yanagawa is often visited by day trippers from Fukuoka and it made sense for us to stop by this city on our drive from Kumamoto to Fukuoka.

The city is also known for its eel or unagi production. In particular, a white-spotted eel found in the nutrient-rich boundary between rivers and the sea, was valued throughout the country in olden times.

“Unagi no Seiromushi” is a specialty dish of Yanagawa. This dish is prepared by covering a bed of rice with a special sauce and steaming it in a wooden steamer box known as a “seiro.” Separately, fillets of eel are charcoal-broiled and also covered in the special sauce. The fillets are then placed on the bed of rice, some finely sliced scrambled egg is added as a color and flavor accent, and the whole dish is steamed once more.

Although there are now several other restaurants offering this dish, Ganso Motoyoshiya is the restaurant that is credited with the creation of “Unagi no Seiromushi” in 1684. The secret recipe for the sauce and the techniques used in preparing the dish have been carefully passed down for the more than three hundred years since that time.

It is best to get to the popular restaurant before the lunch time crowds formed. The restaurant opens at 10.30 am daily, except Monday.

Leaving Kumamoto at 10 AM, we arrived at the restaurant about an hour later. There are limited parking spaces at the restaurant’s car park and we managed to get one of the two remaining spaces.

The restaurant is set in a traditional house that is more than 300 years old.

The entrance to the Ganso Motoyoshiya main store located in Yanagawa.

Our plan to come early paid off as there was no queue and we were seated immediately at a table with nice views of the garden.

Our table with views of the garden.

We were provided with menu in English. The Seiromushi with Kimo Soup set (¥4,800) includes charcoal-broiled fillets of eel placed on a bed of flavoured rice in a steamer, topped with finely sliced scrambled egg, and served with a light soup containing eel liver.

For an additional ¥400, we get an additional piece of charcoal-broiled fillet of eel placed inside the flavoured rice as an extra treat. Why not?

Our Toku-seiomushi with Kimo soup set for ¥5,200.

Charcoal-broiled fillets of eel placed on a bed of flavoured rice in a red lacquer steamer, topped with finely sliced scrambled egg. Additional piece of eel is buried in the rice.

Eel liver in the soup.

As we enjoyed eating our delicious lunch, we saw the seats in the restaurant got filled up to its capacity.  Overall, the delicious eel served in this historical restaurant is worth the price and trip to Yanagawa.

After lunch, we took a stroll around the town for a bit of sightseeing along the city’s historic canals. From Ganso, we walked to the nearest canals where we spotted some boats on our way to the restaurant.    

There are several boat operators offering canal cruises that lasted more than an hour. Personally, I think that the cruise takes too long, so we skipped the cruise. After a heavy lunch, it was good to burn some calories with a stroll along the canals.

Spot the bird that is here on sentry duty.    

  Some parts of the canals were lined with willow trees.

Couple of guys trying to catch their lunch along the canal. 

The heron was still there when we went back to the boats.

We walked down a stretch of canal next to residential buildings before heading back to the area where we saw the boat tour operators.  We were hoping to spot some boats on the canals and we were in luck, even though it was drizzling slightly.

We spotted a cruise boat going by. The gondola-like boat is propelled by the boatman using a long pole.

The passengers on this boat were provided with plastic rain coats and hats. 

The boat was going quite slowly and our walking pace was faster than the boat.

We went ahead of the cruise boat and arrived at the historic sluice gate of Yanagawa Castle’s moat. Although it was not obvious, this is the only water gate that connects the inside of Yanagawa Castle and the outside of the castle. It was used to protect the interior of the castle from flood.

Yanagawa Castle moat sluice.

While we were at the water gate, we saw the canal boat approaching the gate, and making a turn to go through it.

We waited for them at a narrow part of the canal with a bridge overhead. I had read that on some cruise, the boatman became like a “ninja,” where they jump up onto bridges while allowing their boat with passengers to glide beneath. They then jump back down into the boat as it emerges from under the bridge on the other side.              

Boat passing beneath a low bridge at the sluice gate.                    

This boatman did not become a ninja. He ducked under the bridge like everyone else.

Boat emerging on the other side.

We spotted another boat behind the first boat. This was from another operator since the uniform of the boatman was different. Like the first boat, the passengers were all in good spirits despite the light rain. They smiled and waved to us cheerily when we waved to them. Some even took photos of us taking photos of them. So fun!

Second boat passing beneath the low bridge. No ninja action from the boatman. Maybe this bridge is not low enough.

Watching the 2 boats disappearing down the canals before heading back to our car.

The canals had plenty of history and there are information boards to read.

Walking back to our car through a quiet residential area.

Overall, we spent about 2 hours in Yanagawa, including lunch. From there, we drove to Fukuoka, our last destination in this amazing road trip around Kyushu.