THE HISTORY OF AIYAKAZOU 藍屋嘉蔵の歴史
The Okumura family first appeared in the history of Okumura village during the industrial revolution of the Genroku era.
Kazou the 6th took up Sukumo trading from 1804 to 1818. Kazou the 9th expanded the Indigo market to chikuzen / Hizen. By Meiji 1873 he had opened a Fukagawa branch in Tokyo. Then the market expanded to Musashi, Sagami and Shinano, Ibi and Suruga. Because the Okumura family had a store called “Aiya” for Indigo Ai, Kazou became known as “Aiya Kazou”. The family business became successful in 1808, and the house from that era is now a museum for Ai-no-Yakata.
In 1879 the Okumuras started a brewery for Sake. They also owned several thousand books and scrolls, and those documents and the old house are quite important for the research of the Awa (Tokushima) Ai industry.
奥村家が奥村村の歴史に登場するのは経済発展が著しい元禄期（1688 - 1704）のことです。
藍商経営については文化年間に六代嘉蔵が藍商に転身したころからはじまり、九代嘉蔵の時には藍売場を筑前・肥前に拡大し、明治六年には東京の深川に支店を設けて武蔵、相模、信濃・甲斐、駿河の諸国に販路を拡大していきました。
奥村家は藍屋の屋号を持ち藍商として経営を軌道に乗せたのは、今に残る母屋(旧奥村家屋敷、現「藍の館 藍住町歴史館)が新築された文化五年(1808)の頃のことと考えられます。また、明治十二年(1879)には酒造業を始め積極的な経営を営んでいることが伺えます。この奥村家には数万点にも及ぶ文書は所蔵されており、旧奥村家屋敷と共に阿波藍業史の研究に重大な役割を担ってます。