When the town and port of Mitarai were first developed, Shibaya became its first town elder – akin to a town mayor. A man of stature, he lived in a splendid home. Additionally, whenever VIPs visited Mitarai, they relied on the elder to be the face of the town. As such, this house has seen its share of notable figures.
One such figure was cartographer Inō Tadataka when he visited Mitarai in 1806. He was famous for creating a precise map of Japan. It’s said that he walked nearly 35 million steps around the entire nation to survey its coastline; pondering how he surveyed the Seto Inland Sea’s complex coasts beggars the imagination. He visited Mitarai together with a team of 20 people and stayed for three days, using this home as his base of operations for his various land surveys. At night, he and his team would stargaze, as measuring latitude and longitude by the stars made for more accurate surveys. Did the man ever rest while in Mitarai? How did Tadataka spend his time here?
