Northern Culture Museum

Northern Culture Museum

In the mid-Edo era, there was a family called Ito who began their lives as peasants but later became one of the most powerful landowners in the Echigo region. During their prime in the early 1,900s, the size of the farm land they owned was more than 1,300 hectares. Today, the house that the Ito family lived in has been turned into a museum.
The architectural style of this house indulging in every possible luxury reveals to us how prosperous the family was. You will find an entrance gate made completely of zelkova, a living room facing a magnificent Kaiyu-style garden, and a robust Irori (hearth) which is a feature unique to houses in snowy regions. There is also a tea house with a 30-meter tall cylindrical column. Moreover, the many other beautiful features found on its grounds are the Sanrakutei used as a study and tearoom and the Sekisuikan designed by Soetsu Matsumura, a tea master who lived in the late Edo period. Ordinary houses built in the 18th Century have also been moved here, allowing visitors to understand the lifestyle of the peasants back in those days. Moreover, there is a large wisteria trellis in the garden and the flowers reach their peak every year in mid-May.