A Nagasaki Settlement House Rebuilt Above a Reservoir
Meiji Village Nagasaki Foreign Settlement No. 25 Main Building (明治村長崎居留地二十五番館本館) is a single-storey timber house of 1889 standing inside Museum Meiji-Mura in Inuyama City, Aichi Prefecture, and it was placed on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2003.
The house did not begin here. It was built on the slopes of Minamiyamate, one of the three districts of the Nagasaki foreign settlement along with Higashiyamate and Ōura, and it looked out over Nagasaki Bay for seventy-seven years before being taken down in 1966.
Its master carpenter was a Japanese craftsman named Tsutsumi Matsutarō. That detail changes how the building reads. The wide veranda, the shuttered sash windows and the clapboard walls all belong to the colonial idiom that circulated through the treaty ports of East Asia, but the framing and the roofwork came from a carpenter trained in Japanese practice, working from foreign expectations he had to interpret.
The floor area is 241 square meters. The roof is built in Yosemune-zukuri form and covered with Sangawara-buki tiles, and a second, lower roof wraps the front and both flanks to shelter a boarded veranda.
Why the House Is on the National Register
Meiji Village Nagasaki Foreign Settlement No. 25 Main Building was entered on the register on 1 December 2003, under the criterion for buildings that set a standard of design. Its register number is 23-0085. The Registered Tangible Cultural Property system records buildings rather than designating them, and this house was among the Meiji-Mura structures recorded in that round.
Foreign settlement housing survives in Nagasaki, Kobe and Yokohama, but rarely as a complete household. What the register recognises here is a house whose plan can still be read: a veranda facing the view, a row of rooms behind it, and a fireplace in each of them. Nineteenth-century residents of the settlements wanted the ventilation of a tropical bungalow and the warmth of a European parlour at the same time, and this house tries to give them both.
The veranda posts stand on individual foundation stones rather than on a continuous sill. At the head of each post a bracket, or Mochiokuri, carries the beam above. The outer walls are finished in Shitami-itabari with the corner posts left visible, and the openings are sash windows fitted with paired hinged shutters.
What to Look At
A roof line that catches the light
Look along the tiles and you will see white ridges of Shikkui plaster running down the roof in narrow bands. The plaster was originally packed into the joints to stop wind from lifting the tiles, a practical measure common in Kyushu and Okinawa that later hardened into decoration. On the main roof of the No. 25 Main Building the treatment covers the whole surface, which is why the roof reads as pale rather than grey from a distance.
Doors painted to imitate rare grain
A conservation programme completed in 2019 examined the interior finishes and found Meiji-period wood-graining under later coats. Painters had worked the doors with imitations of nakamoku and sasamoku, two figured grain patterns prized in cabinetmaking and hard to obtain in board form. The restoration reproduced the technique rather than covering it over. Stand close to a door leaf and the grain resolves into brushwork.
The colour hidden under a fireplace
The same programme stripped the paint on a fireplace surround in the Main Building and reached an original benidame lacquer finish, a deep translucent red. Conservators matched it using cashew lacquer. It is a small area of a small room, and it is the kind of thing that only turns up when a building is taken apart carefully.
The approach underfoot
When the house was moved in 1966, the stone paving of the approach and the roadside gutters came from Nagasaki with the timber. The site at Meiji-Mura was chosen to echo the original: the house in Minamiyamate stood on a slope above Nagasaki Bay, and here it stands on a rise above Lake Iruka. Walk up to the veranda and glance back at the water before you go in.
Visiting the House
Meiji Village Nagasaki Foreign Settlement No. 25 Main Building stands in the 3-chome district of the museum grounds, at plot 31 of that district's numbering, between the Sugashima Lighthouse Keepers' Quarters and the Kobe Yamate Foreign Residence. There is no separate ticket for individual buildings; the museum admission covers everything inside the gates.
Admission for adults is 2,500 yen, 1,500 yen for high school students and 700 yen for junior high and elementary school students, with preschool children admitted free. Opening hours shift with the season: 9:30 to 17:00 from April to July and in September, October and March; 10:00 to 17:00 in August; 9:30 to 16:00 in November on weekdays; and 10:00 to 16:00 from December to February. Last entry is 30 minutes before closing. The museum closes on scattered weekdays through the year, so check the calendar before travelling.
Personal photography needs no permission. Tripods and monopods may not be used inside buildings, near entrances or in narrow passages, and photography for advertising or commercial use requires an application filed in advance.
From Meitetsu Inuyama Station, take the bus from the east exit to Meiji-Mura; the ride takes about 20 minutes. By car, the museum lies 3 kilometres from the Komaki-higashi interchange on the Chuo Expressway, and the car park charges 1,000 yen for a standard vehicle. The grounds are hilly, with steep slopes and steps between the buildings, so allow more walking time than the map suggests.
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Q&A
- Can visitors go inside Meiji Village Nagasaki Foreign Settlement No. 25 Main Building?
- Yes. The building is open to museum visitors during opening hours, and the interior finishes are among the reasons to go in. Some rooms and areas are closed off for safety or during repair work, and the museum also runs timed guided openings of parts that are otherwise shut.
- Where did the Nagasaki Foreign Settlement No. 25 Main Building originally stand?
- On plot 25 of Minamiyamate in Nagasaki City, on a hillside above Nagasaki Bay. It was dismantled and moved to Museum Meiji-Mura in 1966, together with its annex.
- Is there a separate admission fee for the No. 25 Main Building?
- No. One museum ticket covers all of the buildings. Adult admission is 2,500 yen, high school students pay 1,500 yen, and junior high and elementary school students pay 700 yen.
- Can I take photographs at Meiji Village Nagasaki Foreign Settlement No. 25 Main Building?
- Personal photography is allowed without any application. Tripods, monopods, reflectors and step stools are not permitted inside buildings or near their entrances, and any shoot intended for advertising or sale must be cleared with the museum beforehand.
- How do I reach the No. 25 Main Building from Nagoya?
- Take the Meitetsu line to Inuyama Station, then the bus from the east exit to Meiji-Mura, which takes about 20 minutes. A direct highway bus also runs from Nagoya Station and Sakae. Inside the grounds, the building sits in the 3-chome district, uphill from the lake side of the museum.
Basic Information
| Name | Meiji Village Nagasaki Foreign Settlement No. 25 Main Building |
|---|---|
| Location | Museum Meiji-Mura, 1 Uchiyama, Inuyama City, Aichi Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered in 2003 (Heisei 15) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Single storey, tiled roof, floor area 241 square meters |
| Owner | Meiji Mura Public Interest Foundation |
| Public Access | Open to museum visitors during opening hours; some areas restricted |
References
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs: Meiji Village Nagasaki Foreign Settlement No. 25 Main Building
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00003672
- Cultural Heritage Online, Agency for Cultural Affairs: Meiji Village Nagasaki Foreign Settlement No. 25 Main Building
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/168982
- Museum Meiji-Mura: Nagasaki Foreign Settlement No. 25
- https://www.meijimura.com/sight/長崎居留地二十五番館
- Museum Meiji-Mura: Opening hours and closing days
- https://www.meijimura.com/guide/open/
- Museum Meiji-Mura: Tickets and admission
- https://www.meijimura.com/guide/price/
- Museum Meiji-Mura: Access
- https://www.meijimura.com/guide/access/
- Museum Meiji-Mura: Photography on the grounds
- https://www.meijimura.com/photography/
Last verified: 2026.09.03