Iya Valley

A region of mountain valleys, thatched farmhouses and historic vine bridges in Tokushima Prefecture. Access has improved, but the Iya Valley and the inner parts of Shikoku were historically remote and hard to enter. Members of the Taira clan were said to have come here after losing the Genpei War to the Minamoto in the late twelfth century. That remoteness is why it survives as one of the last few vestiges of old Japan. The western valley has good roads and places to stay; the eastern part, Higashi-Iya or Oku-Iya, has fewer ways in. Several vine bridges still span the valley.