Kumagai House — Attraction in Oda

History of the Kumagai Family According to some old documents, the family's ancestors would live in Mt. Sennoyama and serve under the Mori clan as local officials to supervise silver miners in the beginning of the Edo period. According to a family record, a family named Kumagai who lived elsewhere handed over their name and property to another family named Tagiya who lived in Omori in 1729, which was the dawn of the Kumagai family in Omori. The Kumagai family conducted various kinds of business such as silver mining, sake brewing, inspecting tribute silver, supervising silver mines partly as a substitute for the Tokugawa Shogunate, and arranging all necessaries for the local governor's office. In addition, the head of the family in each generation served as an Elder in Omori town. Thus, they were one of the most influential merchant' families in the Iwami...

I visited the Kumagai House to participate in a traditional cooking lesson with some friends and guides. The town itself is very beautiful and traditional, and the Kumagai House especially was very grand and full of history. At the time I visited, the family had many dolls on display for Hina Festival and it was very beautiful.

The cooking demonstration was fascinating, and we learned and participated in every step of the cooking process, from chopping wood, to washing rice, to stoking the traditional wood-fire stove. We even learned about the different ways to store and serve rice the old-fashioned way, not wasting a single grain. In the end, our freshly made onigiri were delicious!

I recommend visiting the Kumagai house, whether just stopping by or signing up for a tour...

Some friends and I attended the traditional cooking demonstration, which was great! Learning how rice was traditionally washed and measured, chopping wood, stoking the fire, we participated in every step of the process, which was really fun and rewarding. Plus, delicious onigiri at the end. The house itself was lovely, the hina doll display was beautiful, and our host was so kind and encouraging. Totally recommend stopping in, just to look, or for a longer...