Travel back in time to the Meiji and Taisho periods

The Onishi Scales Store, built in 1896, handled cotton, fertilizer, etc. The Kimura residence, built in 1893, is a townhouse with long lattices.

The Onishi family home was built in 1916 and features a small window and a plaster-coated "tsushi 2-kai" (a style of townhouse with a low ceiling on the second floor and an attic room with skylights that was originally used as a servants' bedroom, etc.). The Nakata family home, a former sake brewery, was built in 1921 and still has an impressive zelkova signboard with the words "Kuni no Tomi" hanging there.

In addition, at the entrance to Minatomachi Street, Hamadaya, popular for its dry pork cutlet bowls, is also a fine building built in 1933.

The area is also committed to preserving the townscape, with examples such as Gallery Kogomi, where the appearance of a 150-year-old merchant's house gives the store its individuality, and the restoration of an Edo-period townhouse by making use of old materials.

The origins of Tobe ware can be found in Iyo City

In the middle of the street, the remains of Osaka merchant Izumiya Jihei's shop remain.

Jihei Izutani signed a contract with the Ozu Domain for the exclusive sale of Iyo whetstones during the Kanpo era (1740s) in the mid-Edo period. The whetstones (stones for sharpening blades) quarried from Toyama in Tobe Town were known even to the Imperial Court under the name "Iyo-to". However, the more production flourished, the more whetstone waste was generated during quarrying, and they had a hard time disposing of it.

Jihei Izumiya was informed by Ueda-ya in Amakusa that there was a technique to make porcelain from whetstone waste, and he recommended porcelain production to the lord of Ozu. This is the origin of Tobe ware. The photo shows a signboard introducing the origins of Tobe ware, posted on the earthen wall on the north side of the Nishioka residence.

A big whale-catching mission in the Iyo Nada Sea!?

At Minato Shrine in Yonaminoto, Iyo City, there is a unique tower called the "Kakugei Ichiji Ichisekito" (One Letter Stone Tower for Destroying a Whale). Built in 1910 (Meiji 43), this tower is a memorial for a whale that appeared off the coast of Gunchu.

In the early spring of 1909, a whale took up residence off the coast of Gunchu. The fishermen of Minatomachi, who of course had no experience with whaling, just hoped that the whale would disappear quickly, but the whale continued to swim around regardless.

They had no choice but to try whaling, but failed to catch a whale using a large net. They asked the Makai Whaling Company in Shimonoseki to help them, and finally caught one on March 21 of the same year.

Whales are rare in the Iyo Nada Sea, so onlookers flocked to see the whale that was pulled up with the help of two oxen and several hundred people. Photographs from that time remain in the grounds of Minato Shrine.