“Mamedera-gya?”

This is a greeting similar to “How are you?” in the dialect of Masuda Town, a district of Yokote city that flourished with commerce once upon a time.

It grew during the closing years of the Edo Period as a castle town at the intersection between the Naruse and Minase rivers, flourishing thanks to lively trade at the cross streams. It became Akita Prefecture’s chief manufacturer of silk and tobacco, alongside rice, ore, and money lending ventures. The result of such abundance was the fastest development of electricity and asphalt road infrastructure in south Akita Prefecture.

Returning to the phrase “mamedera-gya?”, it’s a greeting in a sort of trader’s slang, where “mame” means “doing well.” There’s also the phrases “yotten-she” and “mitetan-she”, which respectively mean “Come closer” and “Come take a look.” You might catch “mamedera-gya” as you walk around, since the Akita dialect is still widely spoken today.

The Historic Conservatory District of Masuda Town (hereafter, the “Conservatory”) comprises the east and north regions of the Masuda Castle site. Within the Conservatory is Nanokamachi Street, a street that once flourished as a main artery for goods distribution. The Masuda Morning Market, which continues to this day, was born here in 1643, and was flush with roadside stalls until 1955.

Like moths to a flame, entrepreneurs flocked to merchant towns like Masuda, and in Nanokamachi Street the fountainhead of financing for start-up businesses was Masuda Bank. Now owned by Hokuto Bank, the Masuda Bank of old was started by only ten people. Picturing such a rags to riches story boggles the mind.

Businesses during the late Meiji period took the bank’s opening as a chance to prop up the mining industry and further develop the economy through the Taisho period, which resulted in the creation of large buildings that combined shopfronts with residences. These stood as “proof” of the locals’ success in business. The construction gold rush accounted for their opulence and also caused great strides in engineering, and its influence can still be seen in modern homes and stores in Masuda.