This building was originally Kinomoto-juku’s honjin, an inn that served traveling daimyo lords and other prestigious guests who passed through the area. The inn was owned by the Takeuchi family. In the mid-nineteenth century, the Takeuchi family started making and selling medicine in addition to running the honjin. During the Meiji period (1868–1912), Takeuchi Gozaemon (dates unknown), the twenty-second family head, earned a pharmacist’s license. Although the Takeuchi family pharmacy is now in a different building, their approximately 170-year-old family business continues today.

 

※This English-language text was created by the Japan Tourism Agency.