Let's take a tour of the former Kaneko family residence, a merchant house from the late Edo period.

After experiencing Kanto at the Akita Folk Performing Arts Museum "Neburi Nagashi-kan", please stop by the attached "Former Kaneko Family Residence". The Kaneko family was founded in the late Edo period as a pawn shop and used clothing dealer, and since the early Meiji period they have been a wholesaler of kimonos, cotton fabrics, and linen fabrics, and they operated their business in this building until 1982. The main building was rebuilt around the year after the Tawaraya Fire in 1886, but the storehouse that survived the fire was built in the late Edo period and has been preserved.

Designs and ingenuity unique to a merchant house facing a main street can be seen everywhere, such as the ''Tensuigame'' which collects rainwater on the roof in case of a fire, the ''Komise'', an earthen floor passageway parallel to the street, and the built-in storehouses (storehouses) connected by an earthen floor. As part of its unique design, there is a transom carved with a bat, which is a symbol of good luck in China, between the middle room and the ''Oe-no-ma'' room, so be sure to check it out.