Kanamori House
During the Edo period (1603–1867), the Iwami Ginzan silver mine was under the direct control of the central government in Edo (present-day Tokyo), which assigned a magistrate to supervise the mine. In addition to the mine itself, the magistrate administered the lands around it, which encompassed some 150 villages. People from these villages often had to travel to the town of Omori to conduct official business at the magistrate’s office. In the mid-1700s, this led the government to establish the goyado system, under which the villages were organized into six groups. Each group was assigned an inn in which people from those villages had to stay when visiting Omori. The magistrate contracted rich merchant families in Omori to provide these inns, which also served the purpose of relaying new laws and orders from the magistrate’s office to the villages. One of the six goyado inns operated in what is now the Kanamori House, built around 1850. The building is distinguished by its roomy second floor, which could accommodate dozens of guests and even included a small tea room. The space was well needed, because the house was also used as an inn for people visiting Omori to borrow money from the magistrate’s office, as well as a sake brewery. The Kanamori House is not open to visitors.