Sakai · Shukuin moat townNo.033★Open in map →
Inoue Sekiemon Residence
— Japan's only surviving Edo gunsmith workshop-home
A restored Edo-period matchlock-gun forge and family home in Sakai, opened as a museum in March 2024 — the only one of its kind remaining in Japan.
The Inoue Sekiemon family made matchlock firearms in Sakai, one of Japan's leading gunmaking towns of the Edo period (1603–1868). Their house in the Kita-Hatagocho district combines a dirt-floored forge with the family's living quarters, and it appears on the 1689 town map 'Sakai Oezu.' After restoration work that began in 2020, it opened in March 2024 as the Machiya History Museum, Inoue Sekiemon Family Residence. Sakai City describes it as the only surviving Edo-period gunsmith workshop-and-residence in Japan.
Why it stays quiet
It sits away from the Mozu keyhole-tomb route that most Sakai visitors follow, the signage is mostly in Japanese, and the museum only opened in 2024, so little travel information exists in English yet.
Background & history
The main residence was designated a Sakai municipal tangible cultural property in 2004, with additional structures added in 2018. More than 20,000 family documents were found inside the house, spanning roughly 270 years from the Edo period through the early Showa era. A joint research project with Kansai University (2015–2019) used these records to re-examine Japan's history of firearm production.
What to look for — in walking order
- Recreated forge
- the dirt-floored blacksmith's workshop (kajiba), reconstructed inside the house, where guns were made
- The shop room (mise-no-ma)
- the front room where the family conducted business, restored to its Edo-period form
- Family archive
- displays drawn from the roughly 20,000 documents found in the house's storehouses and upper floor
- Hands-on exhibits
- interactive displays letting visitors experience aspects of a gunsmith's work
How to enjoy it
Open 10:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30), closed Tuesdays. Admission is 500 yen. The appeal lies in the recreated workspaces and the archive of documents rather than a large gun collection, so allow time to read the exhibits. The museum is a short walk from Shichido Station on the Nankai Main Line.
How to actually get there
- From Namba (Nankai), take a Nankai Main Line local train to Shichido Station (about 14 min).
- At Shichido, leave the station and walk about 5 min (about 300 m) to the museum.
- Return by a local train from Shichido back to Namba (about 14 min).
- Nankai Main Line to Shichido, then a short walk
- From Namba (Nankai), take a Nankai Main Line local train (futsu) to Shichido Station, about 14 min. Only local trains stop at Shichido, so do not board an express. From Shichido Station it is about a 5 min walk (about 300 m) to the museum. Total about 20-25 min. Local trains run about every 15 min in the daytime.
- Return by the same route
- The museum closes at 17:00 (last entry 16:30). Take a local train back from Shichido to Namba, about 14 min. Local trains run frequently into the evening, so no fixed last-train worry for a daytime visit.
Before you go
- Cash
- Admission is a fixed 500 yen at the door; a Japanese IC card or cash both work for the train fare.
- Closing days
- Open 10:00-17:00 (last entry 16:30). Closed Tuesdays (or the next weekday if Tuesday is a holiday) and over the New Year period.
- Another way
- The Hankai tram line also runs nearby: from Takasujinja tram stop it is about a 4 min walk (about 300 m) to the museum.
- After you get off
- From Shichido Station, walk about 5 min (about 300 m) into the old moat-town grid to reach the house.