Orii Family Samurai Residence & Garden

 

The former Orii family residence in the castle town of Takahashi in Okayama was a fairly high-ranking samurai home built in the late Edo Period.

Placed around the property are various mannequins dressed in period costume including a suitably obsequious servant.

I found it a little creepy. In a museum when viewing a historical tableau, then it seems OK, but when you can walk around in the space I find it somehow distracting.

As this is next door to the Haibara Residence, it would suggest that the two samurai families were of a similar ranking, but as this one is closer to castle I would guess slightly higher ranked.

 

As the photo below shows, there were two separate entrances: one for receiving guests and one for daily life.

All the rooms of the property are open to visitors.

The gardens are nice enough, but nothing special and did not seem well tended. The gardens next door were better in my opinion.

There is a also a museum displaying armour, weapons etc

There are a variety of joint-entry tickets including the neighbouring samurai residence, the castle, and Raikyuji Temple.

These photos are from August, 2014 while I was on day 6 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage. The previous post was the Haibara Samurai Residence next door.