The lattice here is the same pattern as in the Kansai. Mimitsu stands at the mouth of the Mimi River, a town of shipping agents, and its townhouses carry mushiko-mado and kyō-gōshi along three parallel streets. Kyoto-style lattice appears in northern Miyazaki because the ships went back and forth to the Kansai ports — an instance of a design travelling along a sea route rather than overland.

The three streets run parallel to the coast, with narrow lanes cutting between them toward the water, so the plan is a grid oriented entirely by the sea rather than by any road coming in from the land side. Mimitsu was designated an Important Preservation District in December 1986, which is early for a port town of its size and some distance from any large city. Hyūga's town centre is about twenty minutes away by car, and there is a station on the Nippō line, which makes commuting toward Nobeoka straightforward enough that people live here and work elsewhere.

A town joined to others by boat comes to resemble the places it trades with. There was more traffic between here and the Kansai ports than between here and the next settlement along the coast, so the way houses were built and the way life was organised aligned with the far end of the sea route instead of with the immediate neighbours. Distance on a map and distance in practice are two entirely different measurements, and before the railways they diverged sharply. The lattice on these frontages is a record of the second measurement, taken at a time when the sea was faster than any road.