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Northern Culture Museum
The kitchen and hearth
(measuring over 200m2)
At the peak of the Ito family's wealth, about 60 kilos of rice was presumably cooked here daily for the 12-13 family menbers and 50 or more employees and servants (about 30 of whom lived in.)
The sub-drawing room
One quite impressive feature here is a rare log of Japanese ceder used as a beam beneath the roof of the veranda. This 30-meter-long log and those used as beams in other parts of the building are said to have been cut down in a deep forest ia the Aizu district of the neighboring prefecture and floated down the Agano River to this village.
Tea houses
Sekisui-an and Zeku-ken:
Both were designed by Souetsu Matsumura, a tea ceremony master, after a famous tea house "Fushin-an" in Kyoto. Originally built in Kashiwazaki in the beginning of the 19th century, they were moved to this museum in 1956.
The long cedar beam and hanging transom
in front of the main drawing room
Ji-an:
Containing a 4-mat special tea room, it is connected to the main building by a small detached bridge.
The Garden on a snowy day
Iwano-ya:
An arbor for a special style of tea ceremony, it is situated at the foot of the artificial hill (tsukiyama).
Sadomi-tei:
Consisting of three rooms, it is located on the top of the hill.
Sanraku-tei House
The small house, used as a study and tea room, is noted for its unusual shape : a triangle! It contains one diamond-shaped 10-mat room and two triangular rooms. Even more eccentric is the fact that all parts of the building include the tatami-mats and chests of drawers are diamond-shaped or triangular. This approximately 40m2 triangular house was built in 1890.
Shukokan and a haikiu poem
The two-story earthen warehouse called Shukokan used to be a rice warehouse. The space behind the left door was for rice, and that behind the right door for soy beans. This is one of two remaining warehouses; the other is on exhibit in Shimizuen, Shibata City.
The impressive design of its white and dark grey wall, harmonizing well with the surroundind tranquility, attracted the famous haiku poetess Teijo Nakamura, who has left the inscription of a haiku poem : "Kado dozo wa, imamo mashironi, awo arashi". It may be interpreted : "What pure whiteness the old warehouse still keeps! Standing at the corner of the garden, the green leaves turning over in the wind!"
To the east of the main building are a paddy field and three farm-houses, which were moved from their original villages and rebuilt here, called Kariwa house, Tokiwa-sou, and Yoshigahira house respectively. The blossoms of camellia and iris by the lane seem fitting ornaments for this rural scene.
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The Northen Culture Museum,
6970 Somi Yokogoshi Nakakanbara
Niigata 950-02 Tel : 025-385-2001
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