Bokumaisen Shipowners Street⚓ Bokumaisen Shipowners Street is a historic lane centered on the Ukon and Nakamura families, who amassed great wealth as coastal cargo ship owners. Eleven cities and towns with connections to the Bokumaisen shipping tradition have been designated a Japan Heritage site.👏 In Minami-Echizen Town’s Kono area, the cultural properties that form the Japan Heritage story include the Ukon House, the Former Ukon Residence Western-Style House, and the Nakamura Residence. Each residence is open to the public. Inside the Ukon House, exhibits recreate merchant life and display materials that introduce the trade routes of the time, creating a space history lovers will relish. Perched on the hill behind the main house, the Former Ukon Residence Western-Style House was built as the Ukon family’s villa and is registered as a Tangible Cultural Property of Japan. You can spot modern touches throughout the building. The Nakamura Residence is a large-scale shipowner estate featuring a distinctive layout and a three-story tatami room. Every building shows careful craftsmanship, and each offers a different architectural style to explore. Enjoy the unique landscape shaped by the lifestyle and livelihoods of Kono in Minami-Echizen Town. You can feel the romantic history of the Bokumaisen shipowners who bravely made their living on the vast Sea of Japan. Address: 2-15 Kono, Minami-Echizen Town, Nanjo District, Fukui Prefecture TEL: 0778-48-2196 Opening hours: 9:00–16:00 Closed: Wednesdays and December 29–January 3 Access By car (From the Kansai and Chukyo regions) ・About 20 minutes via Route 305 from the Hokuriku Expressway Nanjo Smart I.C. ・About 40 minutes from the Hokuriku Expressway Tsuruga I.C., head north on Route 8, take the Echizen–Kono Shiokaze Line, then Route 305. (From Ishikawa and Fukui) ・About 20 minutes via Route 305 from the Hokuriku Expressway Nanjo Smart I.C. ・About 30 minutes from the Hokuriku Expressway Takefu I.C., head south on Route 8, then take Route 305 from the Sakurabashi intersection. By train From Happy Line Takefu Station or Echizen Railway Takefu Station, take the Fukutetsu Bus Ojiho–Kono Line for about 40 minutes, or a taxi for about 30 minutes.