Fodor's Expert Review Shiomi Samurai Residence

Built in 1730, this house belonged to the well-to-do Shiomi family, chief retainers to the daimyo. Note the separate servant quarters, a shed for the palanquin, and slats in the walls to allow cooling breezes to flow through the rooms. A few rooms have somewhat kitschy dioramas recreating scenes from household life, but they do give an idea of how Matsue samurai lived in the late Edo period. Buke Yashiki is on the main road at the base of the side street on which Meimei-an Teahouse is located (keep the castle moat on your left).