The Site of Osaka Tawaramono Club

The former site of the Osaka Tawaramono Kaisho (Osaka Tawaramono Trading Office) is located about a 1-minute walk from Kitahama Station. Near an intersection in the business district, you’ll find a stone monument and an explanatory plaque. Despite the name, “tawaramono” does not refer to rice bales; in the Edo period, dried goods packed in straw bales were called tawaramono. Such dried goods were valuable, and in Nagasaki trade, items like dried sea cucumber, shark fin, and dried abalone were traded. The Osaka Tawaramono Kaisho was originally in Bingo-machi, Osaka, but moved to Kitahama in 1777, and trading continued into the Meiji era. These three dried goods are collectively known as the “Tawaramono Sanpin” (three tawaramono products). The site itself is only a monument and plaque—there is no interior to tour—but the Osaka Exchange (OSE) Building is about a 1-minute walk away, so it’s convenient to visit them together.