s, it stretched down to the old Omicho Market at the far end � which is still there, still selling groceries, as it has done for the last four centuries. About a third of the way down the street, on the left, another wide road led straight to the main gate of the castle. Commoners, and in the cities this meant merchants and artisans, lived in designated areas. Merchant areas were laid out along the main roads, notably the Hokkoku Highway that runs through the city. Merchants here were the richest and most influential, and a few of them survive until this day. Other outlying areas were ranked lower, and the houses were of a correspondingly lesser scale
