Yamashō Memorial Museum (村田商人やましょう記念館) 村田商人やましょう記念館
Koga Masao slept in the guest annexe of the Yamashō house: entry is free, guide included.
The Ōnuma family traded as ‘Yamashō’ from the late Edo period to the early Shōwa years: safflower (紅花, the flower from which red dye was made) above all, then raw silk, cotton yarn, farm produce, and the making and selling of miso and soy sauce; it was one of the wealthiest merchants in the town. The house, dated to March 1874 (Meiji 7), stands on the main street of the storehouse district (蔵の町並み), among the twenty-three preserved shop-houses that line it; its gateway, a 薬医門, is considered rare and is the distinguishing mark of the property. The guest annexe (離れ座敷) hosted Koga Masao, composer of ‘Kage wo Shitaite’ and a leading figure in twentieth-century Japanese popular music. The seventh head of the family, Ōnuma Shōshichi, donated the building in 1998 to the municipality of Murata, which opened it as a memorial museum.
Miyagi
Murata Machiyakuba Mae, Murata Aramachi, Murata Kōminkan Mae
