If you go to the famous Himeji Castle and Kumamoto Castle, you can learn about the life of military generals in the past, and you know that there are many "samurai yashiki" left over from the Edo period to the present day, which can make people understand the dormitories, restaurants, and bathrooms of the samurai and samurai classes in the past, which is a very meaningful cultural experience activity! Just follow the editor into the "Samurai's Home"!
What is "Samurai Yashiki"?
In addition to the castle where the shogun lived, the places where the castle's vassals, samurai, and ashikaga lived could be collectively referred to as "samurai yashiki", that is, the home of the samurai generals, which were called differently according to class and status, such as the mansion "Gosho" where the high-ranking samurai lived, the "Daimyo Yashiki" where the daimyo lived, which could also be divided into the "Jinya" used when the daimyo who did not guard the castle came to Kyoto, and the place where the middle and upper class samurai and the ashikaga class used to live was called "Samurai Yashiki" and "Ashikashi Yashiki". There are still many samurai Yashiki preserved throughout Japan that can be visited.
▋Selected nationally famous "Samurai Yashiki"
There are still many ancient samurai yashiki preserved throughout Japan, so you can visit the state of your previous life and take a look at some of the places!
Kagoshima・NHK Oikawa Drama Hot! Senganen Unveils the Mystery of the Shimazu Family
When the NHK Ōkawa drama "Saigoden" was popular, Satsuma samurai became a hot topic for a while, and the Shimazu family's mansion "Senganen" was also the filming location of the show, and it was a famous spot to visit Kagoshima!
Senganen was founded in 1658 by the Shimazu family, the wealthiest family of the Edo period, and is famous for the cherry blossom volcano and Kine Bay, as well as the meticulous view of the Japanese garden, if you want to understand the daimyo Yashiki, you must visit the "Goten" in Senganen Garden, which is the large mansion where the Shimazu family used to stay, and the Shimazu family's "Maru Cross" family pattern can be seen on the furniture and katana sheath. The furnishings here have been restored to the state they were in use at the time, and you can see the living room, bedroom, dining room, and bathroom where Shimazu Tadayoshi (son of Shimazu Qibin's younger brother) used to live in the past, and most importantly, you can see the unparalleled view of the active volcano of Sakurajima, which was designed for the lord of the clan, looking out from the inside out, and Tukhime once looked at it!
The living room where guests are received in the Imperial Palace
The bedroom where the lord of the clan used to rest
The Western-style restaurant can be seen that it was the Meiji period
The bathroom used by the Shimazu family in the past
Take a guided tour of "Gote", which includes a matcha tea and wakako "Flying Dragon Head", which is covered with white bean paste filling and ingredients such as grapefruit, miso, and ginkgo biloba, and has a rich variety of flavors, so you can enjoy the garden scenery at the tea room in the Gotemba and feel the style left by the Shimazu family in the past!
Sengan Garden
・Address: 9700-1, Yoshino-cho, Kagoshima City, Kagoshima Prefecture
・Hours: 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m
・ Access: Get off at the tour bus "Sendoen-mae" station and walk for about 1 minute
Kagoshima ・"Chiryu" samurai Yashiki
In addition to being the famous tea home of the Kagoshima Southern Kyushu "Chiram" area, another famous feature is the samurai Yashiki settlement here, which was formerly the domain of satsuma domain, when the lord of the clan divided the territory into several blocks and scattered his samurai in various districts, and Chiraki was one of the areas, and it is said that more than 500 samurai families lived here.
The neat stone walls and trees line up and you enter the samurai yashiki settlement
Chikan samurai yashiki is famous for its garden landscaping
Known as "Satsuma Little Kyoto", the museum is full of beautiful gardens and natural landscapes, and walking into the samurai yashiki complex, the neat stone walls and well-trimmed trees have a particularly mighty feeling, and the most famous is the seven mansions here, only one of which has rockeries and flowing water, and the other six are famous for their dry landscape gardens, which is a place that those who love Japanese gardens should not miss!
Chia Samurai Residence
・Address: 6198 Banchi, Chikanma-cho, Minami-Kyushu City, Kagoshima Prefecture
・ Access: Take the bus to Chira from Kagoshima Central Station and get off at the "Samurai Yashiki Entrance"
"Nijo-Yaya", empress of Warlord Hideyoshi Tsugaomi, Kyoto
Walking into the "Nijo Array House", you can see the family pattern of the Ogawa family on the curtain, showing the glorious traces of the past samurai. This historic mansion near Nijo Castle was built around 1670 and is listed as an important cultural property, and it is said that the ancestors here were the warlords of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Iyo Imabari Castle Ogawa Yutaka, who became a monk after the defeat of the war, and the descendants changed to the business of selling rice and exchanging money, and used this house to receive the daimyo when they came to Kyoto, so the fire prevention and theft prevention skills are full, and the old houses that are more than 300 years old are completely preserved, and the architectural fans will definitely be able to study it greatly!
Ohiroma was an important space for the former owner to live
From below, it looks like an ordinary skylight, but in fact, there is a passage for hidden ninjas!
The "Ohiroma" is the place where the former owner stayed and is also the core of the house, where guests are received, eaten and slept. There is an intriguing skylight above the ceiling of this suite, which seems to be inadvertent from below, but there is a corridor for ninjas to shuttle through, from which you can peek into the state of Ōhiroma so that you can descend to protect your master in times of danger! In addition, nijo houses also have many stairs that can be moved or hidden, which are also convenient for escaping in the event of a critical situation!
"Between Noh" is a room where Noh dramas used to be performed
A beautiful garden overlooking Ohiroma
Japan's oldest ceramic bathtub!
There are up to seven tea rooms available in NijoYa
The "Noh Drama Room" next door to the Hiroshima room is used as a stage for Noh performances, and in order to enhance the acoustics, there are four urns under the floor. As a place where the owner lives, it is natural to face the beautiful garden, so you can enjoy it from morning to night! Nijo Jinya also houses Japan's oldest "terracotta bath", and you can visit the bathing equipment at that time and the tea room with as many as seven rooms, so you can fully imagine the appearance of the warriors who lived here in the past. If you want to visit, remember to book a guided tour online first!
Nijo Array House
・ Location: 137 Sanbo Daikocho, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto
・Operating Hours: There are four guided tours every day except Wednesdays at 10:00, 11:00, 14:00, and 15:00
・Access: Get off at Nijo Station and walk for about 3 minutes
A must-visit in Kyoto! The "Kiyungjong Genfukan" has an astonishing collection of more than 400 pieces
Do you know what "root payment" is? This is a small ornament hanging from a kimono, and this Kiyosung Nefukan showcases the private collection of Sagawa Printing President Muneaki Kinoshita, with more than 4,000 pieces of "Nefu", the only Nefu Museum in Japan, and one of the few samurai Yashiki houses in Kyoto.
Netsuke "Sheep"
Root Pay "Seafood"
Netsuke "爱爱"
This building is included in the tangible cultural property, and the "Old Shingen House" is a samurai Yashiki with a history of nearly 200 years, which was inhabited by samurai of the Edo period, and is presumed to have been built around 1820, and still retains the original kitchen stove and other equipment. At the museum, you can admire Nefu's meticulous carvings, made of ivory, wood, antlers, and ceramics, and this unique Japanese culture is a must-see!
A view of the courtyard of the Kiyosung Genfu Art Museum
In the past, it was the Kiyosungen Art Museum, which used to be a samurai Yashiki
Kiyungjong Genfu Art Museum
・ Location: 46-1 Mibu-Gosho-cho, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto
・Hours: 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (last admission at 4:30 p.m.), closed on Mondays
・ Admission: 1,000 yen, elementary school, junior high school, and high school students 500 yen
・ Access: Get off at nongshengji-dori bus stop and walk for about 3 minutes
Kanazawa・The nostalgic "Nagamachi" samurai Yashiki
Kanazawa was run by the Oda clan's warlord Toshika maeda in 1583, and the area around the city center of Nagamachi was inhabited by former courtiers and upper-middle-class samurai. Most of them have now been converted into houses, cafes, and restaurants, and the yellow "earthen walls" here are the most famous features, with stone blocks laid down, mixed with gravel in the middle, and then poured with dirt. In winter, straw is laid to prevent the snow from collapsing with the earthen walls when the snow melts. Walking on the narrow paths that were deliberately made to prevent enemy invasion, I now feel a kind of quaint poetry! Ohnoso, which still has a babbling stream, is kanazawa's oldest river, which used to be used as a port to transport goods to Castle Town.
The best preserved Kanazawa Nagacho "Nomura House"
The Japanese garden of Nomura's house is well worth a visit
Nagamachi's samurai Yashiki is quite famous, and the "Kaga Domain 1200 Ishinomura Home" that can be opened for public viewing is the tallest samurai in Nagamachi at that time, and you can visit the rooms, living rooms, and ornaments where samurai used to live, including the small and rich Japanese garden, the shape of the famous stone of The Rock, and the starfruit tree that has been around for more than 400 years, which has been recognized by Michelin as the third most recommended in the country!
1200 Ishi Nomura family of Kayaku domain
Address: 1-3-32, Nagashiro-cho, Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture
Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., until 4:30 p.m. from October to March
Access: Get off at the City Bus "Xianglinfang" station and walk for about 7 minutes
These selected Japanese samurai Yashiki are located in quite well-known tourist cities: Kyoto, Kanazawa, Kagoshima, the next time you travel to these cities, you may wish to arrange these attractions and do a deep independent trip! I have actually seen the place where the samurai live, and then look back at the big river drama and historical drama, I must have a lot of feelings!