Tambasasayama is located in the center of the Sasayama Basin surrounded by Taki mountain range and other mountains, and people have lived here for thousands of years. Many artifacts from the Jomon(8000-2000BCE) and Yayoi(300BCE) periods have been found as traces of this fact.

It has prospered as a castle town since the time when the Sasayama Castle was built by order of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Edo shogunate, in 1609. ‘Omiya’ opened in Sasayama around the same time, which marked the beginning of current ‘Kinmata’.

The family head inherited the name ‘Omiya Matabei’ for generations, and changed the trade name to ‘Kinmata’ around the beginning of the Meiji era (1868-1912). The owner now is the 15th generation.

In Yamaguchi Prefecture, there is a diary written by ‘Kido Takayoshi’, a former military commander of the Meiji era, from the time when his name was ‘Katsura Kogoro’. It says that he “stayed at Kinmata in Tambasasayama with Okiku, my favorite girl”. (From a newspaper of Yamaguchi prefecture).

And now, Kinmata is used by people all over the country as a venerable Japanese inn.

Basic information