This museum shows the history of the pharmaceutical industry developed in Ouda. It is the former Hosokawa family residence, estimated to be built in the late Edo period. The building’s appearance and the interior are a reminder of a merchant town in those days.
The family was a medicine wholesaler and later became the founder of one of Japan’s biggest pharmaceutical companies: They were the maternal family of Tomokichi Fujisawa, the founder of Fujisawa Shoten, which later became Fujisawa Pharmaceutical (Fujisawa Pharmaceutical merged with Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical in 2005 to form Astellas Pharma).
They had a branch residence in Nabari City, Mie Prefecture, which is also open to the public as “Yanase-shuku.”
Location
2003 Ouda-Kami, Uda City, Nara Prefecture
Access
Get off at Kintetsu Haibara Station, take a bus bound for 'Ouda (大宇陀)'. Get off at 'Ouda High School (大宇陀高校前)' and walk for 10 minutes.
Parking
Park at Michi-no-Eki Udaji Ouda (Google Maps)
Hours
10 am - 4 pm, closed on Mondays and Tuesdays (the following day if Monday/Tuesday is a national holiday), and from December 15 through January 15.
Admission Fees
310 yen / adult, 150 yen / child
Uda City Historical Museum of Medicine ‘Kusuri-no-Yakata’ = 宇陀市歴史文化館 「薬の館」
