Traditional narrow street in Gifu

In the medieval Japan there were no carriages and the only animal drawn vehicles were ox-drawn carts used exclusively by the aristocracy and the Emperor. The most used method for traveling was the palanquin, so there was no need for wide streets. That's why most of the remaining old streets in Japan are very narrow, like the one photographed here, inside the area with historical buildings in Kawara-machi, Gifu.