is an early

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

pharmacy located on the former Tōkaidō highway in the city of Rittō, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. The building was designated an

Important Cultural Property of Japan An The term is often shortened into just is an item officially classified as Tangible Cultural Property by the Japanese government's Agency for Cultural Affairs (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) and judged to be o ...

(ICP) in 1954 and a National Historic Site of Japan in 1949. The ICP designation covers the main house and shop, main gate and the ''

shoin is a type of audience hall in Japanese architecture that was developed during the Muromachi period. The term originally meant a study and a place for lectures on the sūtra within a temple, but later it came to mean just a drawing room or stu ...

'' residence

Overview

Rokujizō, where the Wachūsan Honpo is located, was an ''

ai no shuku were unofficial post stations along historical routes in Japan. These post stations formed organically along routes (such as the Tōkaidō and the Nakasendō) when the distance between two places was too far or when there were difficult passes ...

'' located between

Kusatsu-juku 260px, The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō">Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō'' series was the fifty-second of the fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō as well as the sixty-eighth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō. ...

and

Ishibe-juku 260px, Reconstructed building based on Hiroshige's print was the fifty-first of the fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto in Edo period Japan. It was located in the present-day city of Konan, Shiga Prefecture, ...

on the Tōkaidō highway. The local speciality of this post station was an

herbal medicine Herbal medicine (also called herbalism, phytomedicine or phytotherapy) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. Scientific evidence for the effectiveness of many herbal treatments ...

called "Wachūsan" which was claimed to be effective against stomach aliments. There were five stores selling this medicine at Rokujizō, but among them, the Ōsumi family called themselves "Wachūsan Honpo" to emphasize their claim to be the originators. The Ōsumi built the a shop called "Zesai-ya" at this location in 1596 directly on the highway, having relocated from a previous location some 300 meters to the northeast. The shop became famous in 1611, when

Shogun , officially , was the title of the military aristocracy, rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor of Japan, Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, exc ...

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

complained of abdominal pain when visiting the area and recovered immediately after taking the ''Wachūsan'' medicine. The "Wachūsan Honpo" was listed in subsequent guidebooks and maps of the Tōkaidō and the medicine was a popular purchase by travelers on the highway. The Ōsumi family had property on both sides of the highway. The main shop and residence were on the south side of the road. On the north side were stables and a chapel to Yakushi Nyōrai, the Buddha of healing. The main building consists of the shop, pharmaceutical factory, kitchen, living areas, with the entrance to the east. The building was a large 10 x 9

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

structure (19.4 x19.1 meters), with a ''Irimoya''-style gabled roof with roof tiles. The current building was rebuilt around 1676. The shop portion of the building has an open front facing the highway with an earthen floor. It is divided into an eastern portion with ''

tatami are soft mats used as flooring material in traditional Japanese-style rooms. They are made in standard sizes, twice as long as wide, about , depending on the region. In martial arts, tatami are used for training in a dojo and for competition. ...

'' mat flooring for customers to sit, and a western portion with wooden floor containing a stone mill and wooden gears for the grinding of the medicinal ingredients. The driving wheel has a diameter of 3.6 meters and was also used for demonstrations when making sales. The shop area has a 1.6 meter wide awning with a copper-plate roof. In the back of the eastern portion are a number of palatial residential rooms arranged around a

Japanese garden are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape. Plants and worn, aged materials are generally used by Japanese garden desig ...

which was designed by Kobori Enshu. Some of the rooms have ''

fusuma In Japanese architecture, are vertical rectangular panels which can slide from side to side to redefine spaces within a room, or act as doors. They typically measure about wide by tall, the same size as a ''tatami'' mat, and are thick. The ...

'' doors decorated with paintings by Soga Shōhaku. This is not the residence of the Ōsumi family, but was used as a private space for high-ranking customers. The garden was designated a National Place of Scenic Beauty in 2001. During the

a number of important people visited and left impressions of the shop and garden, including the late-Edo period writer

Ōta Nanpo was the most oft-used pen name of Ōta Tan, a late Edo-period Japanese poet and fiction writer. Ōta Nanpo wrote primarily in the comedic forms of '' kyōshi'', derived from comic Chinese verse, and '' kyōka'', derived from '' waka'' poetry. Ō ...

and the German doctor

Philipp Franz von Siebold Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold (17 February 1796 – 18 October 1866) was a German physician, botanist and traveller. He achieved prominence by his studies of Japanese flora (plants), flora and fauna (animals), fauna and the introduction of ...

Emperor Meiji , posthumously honored as , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the List of emperors of Japan, traditional order of succession, reigning from 1867 until his death in 1912. His reign is associated with the Meiji Restoration of 1868, which ...

stayed at this location twice: Once in 1868 when he travelled from

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

to his new capital of

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

for the first time, and once in 1870, when he returned to Kyoto for the third anniversary ceremonies for

Emperor Komei The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother/grandmother ( empress dowager/ grand empress dowager), or a woman who rul ...

. The Wachūsan Honpo is located about 30 minutes on foot from Tehara Station on the

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, ...

Kusatsu Line The is a railway line in western Japan operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West). It connects Tsuge on the Kansai Main Line with Kusatsu on the Biwako Line (Tōkaidō Main Line). Overview Kusatsu line mainly runs through area around ...

References

External links

Ritto Tourism Association

Shiga-Biwako Visitors Guide
{{in lang, ja Museums in Shiga Prefecture Wooden buildings and structures in Japan Rittō, Shiga Historic Sites of Japan Places of Scenic Beauty Important Cultural Properties of Japan

Overview

See also

References

External links