Osaka Museum of Housing and Living 9th floor
Exhibition Hall 1: Osaka in the Early Modern Period
Time travel back to Edo Period
Summer Festival Decorations

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7. Machi-kaisho Neighborhood Meeting Hall

Machi-kaisho is a neighborhood meeting hall, where neighborhood officials conducted official business and neighborhood townspeople held meetings.

A hinomi-yagura wooden fire watchtower was built on top of the roof. On the ladder, there is a warning sign saying, “Non-community officials are not allowed to climb up.”

The figurine displayed here by removing storefront lattice is omukae-ningyō made in the late Edo era.
Each neighborhood tried to come up with attractive design for their own omukae-ningyō figurine, which was often based on folklore and famous historical figures, such as Sakata-no-Kintoki and Suzume-odori (dance of the sparrow).

Since the figurine was sent off upstream on a boat to greet the gohōren imperial carriage boat during the Funatogyo Shinto ritual of the Tenjin Matsuri festival, it is called omukae-ningyō, which literally means greeting figurine.

Since machi-kaisho is a public building that was visited by people like government officials from bugyō-sho magistrate’s office, proper architectural design formality was followed, for example,
by installing shikidai step at the entrance in between the earthen floor area and the no-shoe floor area, and fancy mairado doors.

Meeting was held on the second day of each month, to convey town orders from bugyō-sho magistrate’s office, check on the residential registration of the neighborhood,
and discuss and decide on various neighborhood issues. A meal followed each meeting.