Matsusaka's merchants made money in cotton and trade, and the Merchant Museum preserves that side of the city in a former merchant house. The building, storehouses, account books, and domestic rooms show the practical wealth behind the old town's calm streets.
It is a modest museum, but a useful one. Visit after the castle and samurai houses to see the other half of Edo-period Matsusaka: not warriors, but shopkeepers and traders.