Muruya no Sono Merchant House Museum

 

The Muruya no Sono Merchant House Museum in Yanai, Yamaguchi is in the former residence and property of the Oda Family, one of the wealthiest merchants in the area.

Located on a tidal river, Yanai flourished in the Edo Period as a trading port on the busy Inland Sea

The Oda Family made their fortune primarily through the production and trade of oil.

It is one of the biggest surviving examples of a wealthy merchant property from the Edo Period.

All the rooms of the main residence as well as all the ancillary buildings and storerooms have been set up as a museum displaying not only everyday items from the residence, but artifacts and tools as well as ceremonial items.

There are several kinds of dolls on display.

More than a few palanquins which clearly show how small the Japanese generally were...

There are several kitchen areas...

... and some samurai armour and weapons....

Ceremonial objects.....

Plenty of traditional looms...

and a collection of foreign masks....

In the former oil-pressing building, an example of the press used with old illustrations on the walls showing the process....

It really is quite a huge collection of very diverse objects......

Unfortunately, when I visited at least, there was no English explanations, but that is less of a problem nowadays with smartphone camera ftranslation apps....

Yanai is well worth a visit, and if you do, certainly stop in here....

The previous post was on the architecture and gardens of the Muruya no Sono Merchant Property.

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