There was a volunteer guide inside the mansion who explained things to me at an exquisite distance, and it was a completely different experience than seeing it alone.
The building was in an amazing state of preservation, and I could sense the love for the local area from the people at the reception desk.
As I was walking down the main street, I noticed a magnificent building and decided to go in.
Our experienced and eloquent guide gave a fun and detailed explanation, and I learned a lot.
If a guide is available at reception, I recommend asking for one, as it will definitely be more fun and informative.
Thanks to him, I have some great memories of Yakage.
I saw a discount ticket at the Yakage roadside station so I went to see it.
The old street side was the Honjin inn and the back was a sake brewery.
At the Honjin, we could see the old lord's room.
The sake brewery part was like a museum with various explanatory panels and Satsuma portable bathtubs on display.
At the very back there was a shrine-like thing with a painting of Yoshitsune and Benkei?
On my way out the attendant explained to me about the maids' room on the second floor. The exit door at the bottom of the old staircase can only be opened from the outside, what would they do in case of a fire? It was a pretty scary story.
This is the former Yakage Honjin Ishii family residence.
It's a long read, but please read on if you're interested.
The Ishii family has preserved many ancient documents related to early modern transportation, including a record of Tenshoin Atsuhime's stay at Yakage Honjin on her way from Satsuma to marry the 13th Tokugawa Shogun, Iesada. The stay is believed to have occurred on September 17th, and the Honjin's accommodation record, "Shukukata Gokyu Hakudome," for September 1853 (Kaei 6), reads, "The daughter of the Middle General, the Princess of Satsuma, arrived and stayed overnight. Three silver coins were presented." It also lists the number of guests staying at the Honjin, including maids and guard samurai, and meal arrangements. Accommodation records for inns near the Honjin also include "The Princess of Satsuma Stayed" for the same month, indicating that over 200 retainers stayed at 33 inns.
Atsuhime is currently being rebroadcast on NHK-BS, so I was intrigued and thought it was a good time to visit. In the drama, Atsuhime crosses the Seto Inland Sea by boat on her journey from Satsuma, and there's no depiction of her passing through the inland town of Yakage. When I asked our guide about this, he told me that in Tomiko Miyao's novel "Tenshoin Atsuhime," which served as the basis for the taiga drama, Atsuhime and her entourage depart from Cape Toi in Miyazaki Prefecture, pass through Hososhima Port in the same prefecture, Shimonoseki in Yamaguchi Prefecture, and then travel the Seto Inland Sea to arrive in Osaka. While the drama does make some changes to the route, it still follows the "sea route" theory. However, due to the arrival of the Black Ships and other factors, sea travel was tense at the time, and land travel was the norm. NHK also responded to a reader's question by saying, "It appears they actually traveled by land."
The following is from their website:
The Ishii family served as the head innkeeper of Yakage-juku for generations during the Edo period, and their house is now designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan.
The Honjin was used as a lodging and resting place for feudal lords, nobles, and shogunate officials traveling between Edo and their home provinces on their alternate attendance voyages. Records show that not only humans but also elephants, often present for the shogun, would stop by on their way from Nagasaki to Edo.
The surviving Ishii family buildings, primarily those built during the mid- to late Edo period, have been gradually renovated to their current state. The approximately 3,200m² (approximately 3,200m²) estate included the Honjin facilities, including a parlor with an upper-level room and guest reception facilities such as the Onarimon Gate. In addition, the estate also housed over a dozen buildings, including the main house, inner storehouse, sake storehouse, and western storehouse, which served as living quarters for the family and operated the family sake brewing business. The property remains in its original form to this day.
The vast grounds of about 1000 tsubo (approximately 3300m²) and the Ishii family mansion were quite a sight to behold. The admission fee is 500 yen for adults aged high school and above. There are audio guides at each location, which was enough to help you understand the area. The courtyard was also well-maintained by the gardeners, giving it a charming feel. There is plenty of free parking in Yakage, making it easy to stop by. It would also be nice to see it together with the Takakusa family residence, a wakihonjin (side honjin) residence.
