Eleven Items, an Important Cultural Property since 1982
Materials Related to the Trade of the Kadoya Family (角屋家貿易関係資料, Kadoya-ke Boeki Kankei Shiryo) are held at the Jingu Chokokan and Agriculture Museum, 1754-1 Kandakushimoto-cho, Ise City, Mie Prefecture, listed as an Important Cultural Property on 5 June 1982. The listing is as an Important Cultural Property, not a National Treasure, and the owner is the Jingu.
The quantity is eleven items. The owner field holds a single word, the shortest met here.
The Agency records that these are heirlooms of the Kadoya family, who ran a shipping business at Ominato in Ise and went on to trade overseas as well as within Japan.
Four Kinds, Counted in Four Different Measures
Each part of the group is counted its own way.
Ise City sets out the contents as four kinds.
A chart of Asian waters painted on parchment counts as one sheet; a vermilion-seal flag and a Kadoya house flag as one each in a measure used for banners; and the family documents as seven scrolls and one bound volume.
Four measures in all. The one for banners appears here for the first time, making nineteen met so far after those for buildings, blades, maps, pieces and hanging sheets.
The documents carry two measures in one entry: seven scrolls and one bound volume together.
Added up, one sheet, two banners, seven scrolls and one volume come to the eleven items the Agency records. At the Chikugo lift bridge, six kinds of member were counted and the whole came to one. Here the counts by kind add up to a single figure.
The Chart Is Painted on Parchment
The material is not a Japanese one.
The chart is recorded as painted on parchment, a writing surface prepared from animal skin and used in Europe.
The Agency writes that the chart appears to have been used on actual voyages. It was not made for display but taken to sea.
The Gekimosho is on mulberry paper, the Kubiki district map on paper, and the Jokomyoji site map on four sheets of mulberry paper pasted together: Japanese papers all.
This is parchment. That the group concerns trade abroad shows in the material itself.
The chart also appears as an entry of its own in Cultural Heritage Online, its name enclosing a bracketed note within angle brackets and ending in a slash with nothing after it.
Documents Describing a Japanese Quarter Overseas
What the records cover reaches beyond Japan.
The Agency notes that the group includes documents conveying the state of the Japanese quarter in Annam.
Annam corresponds to central and northern Vietnam today. A Japanese settlement stood there, and this group records what it was like.
With the Kubiki district map, a map of Echigo was held in Yamagata: a distance within Japan.
Here documents describing conditions outside Japan have become a Japanese Important Cultural Property.
The category field again runs three headings: historical materials, calligraphy and books, ancient documents. The Gekimosho added a further word for others after those three; the Kubiki district map added nothing. This follows the Kubiki map.
Seeing Them
The museum holds the group and the Jingu owns it. The address field carries both the institution's name and the street address.
Two banners survive, each bearing the family crest. The Agency describes them as materials relating to passage at sea, carrying the crest of the house.
The two are named differently: one after the vermilion seal that authorised the voyage, the other after a place and a family.
The Kadoya family were based at Ominato in Ise, a port town within the present city, where shipping was the trade.
It is a museum holding, not kept on permanent display. Exhibition plans can change, so check before travelling.
Q&A
- When were these materials listed?
- On 5 June 1982, as an Important Cultural Property rather than a National Treasure. The quantity is eleven items and the owner the Jingu.
- What do they consist of?
- Ise City gives four kinds: a chart on parchment, two flags, and family documents in seven scrolls and one bound volume. Together these make eleven items.
- What is the chart painted on?
- Parchment, prepared from animal skin. The Agency writes that it appears to have been used on actual voyages.
- What do the documents record?
- Among them are documents conveying the state of the Japanese quarter in Annam, corresponding to central and northern Vietnam today.
- Who were the Kadoya family?
- Merchants who ran a shipping business at Ominato in Ise and went on to trade overseas as well as within Japan.
Basic Information
| Name | Materials Related to the Trade of the Kadoya Family (角屋家貿易関係資料); the category field reads historical materials, calligraphy and books, ancient documents |
|---|---|
| Location | Jingu Chokokan and Agriculture Museum, 1754-1 Kandakushimoto-cho, Ise City, Mie Prefecture |
| Designation | Important Cultural Property (fine arts); not a National Treasure |
| Year Designated | 1982 (5 June), Important Cultural Property |
| Quantity | 11 items. Ise City gives 4 kinds: a chart as 1 sheet, a vermilion-seal flag as 1, a house flag as 1, and the family documents as 7 scrolls and 1 bound volume |
| Dimensions | The chart of Asian waters is painted on parchment and appears to have been used on actual voyages. Two flags survive, each bearing the family crest. The documents include accounts of the Japanese quarter in Annam. The period is Edo |
| Owner | The Jingu |
| Public Access | A museum holding, not on permanent display |
References
- Ise City: the Kadoya family trade materials
- https://www.city.ise.mie.jp/cul_spo_edu/culture/bunkazai_shiseki/bunkazai/rekishi_shiryo/1009658.html
- Cultural Heritage Online: the same materials
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/db/heritages/detail/213399
- Jingu Chokokan and Agriculture Museum
- https://museum.isejingu.or.jp/museum/index.html
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/
Last verified: 2026.09.10