The Saga City Historical Museum tour, part 2

After finishing the tour of the Old Fukuda Family House, I went further to Yanagimachi, Saga's historic district.  

The Old Morinaga Family House. The Morinaga family has been living in Hasuikemachi (蓮池町)/Yanagimachi since the Edo period and the founder Jyusuke Morinaga was running a cigarette manufacturing and sales. The family gave a business name from the Nabeshima clan during the Kansei era between 1789 and 1801, and it is said to that began manufacturing tobacco.

In the Meiji period, the Fuji no kemuri brand cigarettes manufactured by Zouhei Morigaga became one of the specialties of Saga prefecture. It was more popular than the Tengu brand which was famous in Tokyo at that time. Shigenobu Okuma, the former prime minister of Japan, also loved it. However, with the introduction of cigarette monopoly, it turned to a Kimono shop, and it seems that he was running that business until 1934. There is still a signboard of Morinaga Kimono shop in the column and we can remember at that time.

Machiya style houses along the road: The Old Ushijima House, built in the early 18th century, is on the left and the Morinaga Family House, formerly known as the Morinaga Kimono shop, is on the right.

The Old Hisatomi House was built in 1921. Kameichi Hisatomi who was running a footwear business in Shiroyamamachi (白山町), opened the Hisatomi Shoten footwear shop relocated to Yanagimachi that year and was open until the 1980s. Now there is a craft cafe called Konekuriya (こねくり家) on the first floor, you can have both lunch and coffee in the cafe.

A wooden signboard is written horizontally as the Hakimono Tonya (履物問屋: a footwear shop) Hisatomi Shoten from right to left is still listed in the shop.