旧西川利右衛門家住宅
この住宅は、17世紀、主に蚊帳や畳表を江戸、京都、大坂で販売して財を成した豪商の家である。歴代の当主は西川利右衛門を名乗り、1706年に新町通りの西側に家を建てたのは3代目の西川利右衛門である。三代目利右衛門の弟である庄六が分家し、利右衛門邸の向かいに住むようになり、1785年に邸宅を建てた。1930年、第11代西川利右衛門が後継者なく死去し、本家は終焉を迎えた。しかし西川庄六家は存続し、西川利右衛門邸は近江八幡市に寄贈した。1983年に重要文化財に指定され、1985年から1988年にかけて大改修が行われ、江戸時代の近江商人の家としての姿が復元された。現在は博物館として一般に公開されている。
Former Nishikawa Riemon House
This house was the residence of a prosperous family of merchants who amassed a fortune in the seventeenth century selling mainly mosquito nets and woven rush matting used to cover tatami in Edo (now Tokyo), Kyoto, and Osaka. Each successive head of the family took the name Nishikawa Riemon, and it was the third Nishikawa Riemon who built the house on the west side of Shinmachi Street in 1706. The third Riemon’s younger brother Shoroku established his own branch of the family, whose members came to live across the street from the Riemon House and built a fine house of their own in 1785. In 1930, the eleventh Nishikawa Riemon passed away without a successor, and the main family came to an end. The Nishikawa Shoroku family endured, however, and had the Nishikawa Riemon House donated to the city of Omihachiman. In 1983, the building was designated an Important Cultural Property, and between 1985 and 1988, it was completely restored to its original appearance—that of a typical Omi merchant’s house of the Edo period (1603–1867). The house is now open to the public as a museum.
