Living Quarters of the Goten 彦根城博物館展示解説シート（（仮）木造棟と庭園）

Official explanation

The museum building was constructed in 1987 as a partial restoration of the luxurious living quarters and administrative offices (omote goten) that existed here until their destruction at the end of the nineteenth century. Although the museum’s exhibit space and archives were rebuilt using reinforced concrete, the exterior, living quarters, and garden were restored using historically accurate techniques and materials based on various documents, sketches, and photographs that date back to the Edo period (1603–1867). The areas of the building where the daimyo once lived appear today as they did some four centuries ago.

When not attending meetings or engaged in other official duties, the daimyo would have often rested in two areas of the administrative offices that were set aside for this purpose: the “relaxation room” (on’yasumi-dokoro) and a private tearoom. Much of the daimyo’s daily life took place in the goza no onma, a section of the residence that contains a tearoom and a study that looks out into the garden. When returning to his living quarters, the daimyo would pass through the ojōguchi, a door that connected the administrative quarters to the residence. Passage through this door was tightly regulated—as a rule, samurai and other officials were not permitted to enter the inner areas of the building where the daimyo lived, and the daimyo’s attendants and courtesans could not enter the administrative offices.

出典: 地域観光資源の多言語解説文データベース（観光庁） — www.mlit.go.jp/tagengo-db. この英語解説文は観光庁の地域観光資源の多言語解説整備支援事業で作成しました。
Source: Japan Tourism Agency, Multilingual Explanation Database. This English text was produced by the Japan Tourism Agency's multilingual explanation project and is shown unedited. Opening hours and services may have changed since it was written.