The Takehara Museum of History is housed in a wooden building in the old town, where it stands out for its Western style and its peeling light blue paint. Its tall windows interspersed with unbroken panels of siding make the building appear tall and somehow aspirational. The museum displays materials related to the local salt and sake industry, and exhibits related to the city’s people, history, and culture.

The site was once the residence of Shiotani  Dōseki (1703–1764), a Confucian scholar in the Edo period. After his death, two of his disciples turned it into a school named Takehara Shoin in 1793. It was an important centre for learning and cultural events like haiku readings. The current building was erected in 1929 as the Takehara Shoin Library, which became a museum in 1980.

One of its main displays features Taketsuru Masataka (1894–1979). Known familiarly as Massan, he’s regarded as the father of Japanese whisky. In 1918 he went Scotland to learn the art of distilling Scotch whisky, first at Glasgow University, then at three whisky distilleries. He married a Scot, Rita Cowan, and after returning to Japan in 1920, they founded the Nikka Whisky Distilling Company. A bronze statue of the couple stands outside the museum.