This mercantile building complex faces Inishie Road, the main street of Esashi Town. It was designated as a National Important Cultural Property 1971.

The complex consists of four structures: a main house, a warehouse that includes a library, a second warehouse (shimono-kura), and a third warehouse (hanedashi) where ships could anchor to load and unload goods. Characteristically, these structures stand in a line on a gently descending slope from Inishie Road toward the seashore.

Visitors can tour inside the building complex and view materials regarding herring fishery and trade by the kitamaebune merchant ships that traveled between Hokkaido and Osaka.

This facility was a villa of the Sekikawa Family, who engaged in various business in central Esashi from the mid-Edo to Meiji periods (the 18th and 19th centuries). Built from the late Edo to the early Meiji periods (the late 19th century), the facility consists of a main house and an earthen warehouse. They were collectively designated as a Tangible Cultural Property of Esashi Town in 1981. Today, the warehouse displays pottery, lacquerware, and other heirlooms that were handed down in the Sekikawa family.

The Kaiyomaru, a warship of the Tokugawa shogunate, was stranded and sank in a blizzard off the coast of Esashi, Hokkaido, during the Battle of Hakodate in 1868.

In 1974, more than a century after that submergence, the shipwreck was found in Esashi Port. This prompted the launch in 1975 of Japan’s first full-scale investigation into the underwater remains. About 30,000 items, including the ship’s fittings, weapons, and everyday utensils, were salvaged from the seafloor.

This museum, a full-scale restoration of the ship, exhibits nearly 3,000 relics and panels explaining the history behind the battleship.

This museum was repurposed from a subprefectural hall that was built in 1887. The building has been designated as a Tangible Cultural Property of Hokkaido.

The Esashi Town Basic Vision for Historic and Cultural Resources, developed in 2017, focuses on the town’s historic and cultural resources in terms of four characteristics.
(1) Historic and cultural resources based on geographical features centering on Kamome Island
(2) Historic and cultural resources based on the culture that was introduced from Honshu, Japan’s main island, and was adapted to the climate of Esashi
(3) Historic and cultural resources with integrated tangible and intangible elements
(4) Historic and cultural resources that have become integral to the daily rhythms of local residents and that are still enjoyed by them
This museum displays exhibits not in chronological order or by field, but narratively based on the four characteristics listed above.

Visitors to Esashi are welcome to learn about the historic and cultural resources of the town at this museum.

This museum exhibits local historical materials, including coins excavated from medieval remains in the Shinori area of Hakodate, which constitute the largest coin hoard found to date in Japan and are collectively designated as a National Important Cultural Property. Other exhibits include items collected by the museum from the Meiji period, genre paintings of indigenous Ainu people, and materials on the 1854 American expedition led by Commodore Perry to Hakodate, the Battle of Hakodate, and the Great Fire of Hakodate.

The museum is nestled in the quiet Hakodate Park in the proximity of the Old Hakodate Museum No. 1 (Hokkaido Development Commission Hakodate Provisional Museum), which opened in 1879 and is the oldest existing museum building in Japan, and the Old Hakodate Museum No. 2, which opened in 1884. The area with these museums is ideal for strolls during the cherry blossom and autumn foliage seasons.