It was the beginning of the Taisho era, around the same time the Furukawa building was established.

There was a New Year’s Eve tradition for restaurants in the area to reenact the story of Ako Jiken-- the vendetta of the 47 leaderless samurai from the 18th century. Customers would come to the restaurant wearing happi coats and reenact the whole thing, including the famous scene where the group of samurai kills the man responsible for the death of their leader. The restaurant provides bags of flour to be used as “blood,” so when they slash open the bag the whole room becomes a puff of white dust, marking the end of the show. After all that, restaurants order new tatami mats and clean the room as if nothing had happened. That was their New Years’ tradition.

When the coal business was booming, many restaurants in Wakamatsu called on top-class dancers, singers, and tea masters from Kyoto to teach geisha skills to the local women. The restaurant owners believed that proper geisha should not just rely on their looks but should practice the arts as well.

Wakamatsu had about 160 geisha at its peak during the Showa era, but after the economic boom many Japanese-style restaurants had to close down and this greatly affected the geisha business.

Kinnabe is one of the few Japanese-style restaurants that survived and is now a cultural heritage site of the area, serving delicious Japanese food to its customers.