It is said that herring fishing in Tomari Village began approximately 300 years ago from now. When herring fishing reached its golden age in the Meiji era, more than 50 herring fishing shacks lined up in Tomari Village. The herring fishing shacks, which brought enormous wealth through herring fishing, were also a symbol of Tomari Village's prosperity.

"Herring Mansion Tomari," which conveys the prosperity of that time to the present, is the "Former Kawamura Family Banya," which was built in Meiji 27 (1884) by Mr. Kawamura Keijiro, the master, with a unique structure in order for the master who managed the fishing ground and the hired fishermen to live communally, and the "Former Takei Residence Guest Hall," which was constructed connected to the main house by Mr. Takei Tadayoshi around Taisho 5 (1916); these were relocated and restored, and both vividly reproduce the appearance of that time when herring fishing was prosperous, and were designated as tangible cultural properties for the first time in Tomari Village in Heisei 13.
The second floor of the "Former Kawamura Family Banya" is the part that the Kawamura family originally used for guests, and it seems they were also conducting business negotiations and so on there, conveying the prosperity of past times to the present.

Inside the hall, valuable items that tell the story of the state of herring fishing, donated by many people from Tomari Village, are exhibited and preserved, creating a space tightly packed with Tomari Village's history and culture, and it is widely open to the general public as a museum for conveying local culture to future generations.