A 1930s Villa on the Old Castle Grounds
Fukuyama City Fukuju Hall (福山市福寿会館, Fukuyama-shi Fukuju Kaikan) is a group of residential buildings in Marunouchi, Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture, built around 1935 to 1937; its Western-style house was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 1997, and five more buildings followed in 2012.
The estate sits just northeast of the keep of Fukuyama Castle and covers 7,395 square metres. Six buildings are registered: a Japanese-style main building, the two-storey Western-style house attached to it, two tea houses and two earthen storehouses, with a combined footprint given as 872 square metres. They are pushed to the north edge of the plot, leaving the south side to a pond garden.
One naming quirk is worth knowing. In the national register, the name Fukuyama City Fukuju Hall on its own belongs not to the whole estate but to the Western-style house, the first building to be listed. The other five carry the facility name plus a suffix, as in Fukuyama City Fukuju Hall Main Building. This site follows the register, so the Western-style house page appears under the bare name.
The address also appears in two forms: 1-1-1 Marunouchi in the national database and 1-chome 8-9 Marunouchi in the city's own listings. The first looks like a land-lot number and the second a postal address; both point to the same site.
From a Merchant's Retreat to a Civic Hall
The builder was Wasuke Anbe (安部和助), a dealer in marine products who grew rich enough to be nicknamed the "king of katsuobushi", the dried bonito flakes used in Japanese stock. The Fukuyama Castle Museum and the city's facility pages read his surname as Anbe, while the city's tourism page gives Abe; the sources simply disagree.
The land lies on the north side of the castle's former second bailey, where rows of storehouses once held rice paid to the Fukuyama domain. After it passed into private hands, Anbe built a large villa here in the 1930s. According to the city, the main building went up between about 1935 and 1937, the west tea house was added in 1940 and the south tea house in 1942.
On 8 August 1945 an air raid destroyed the castle keep a short walk away, but the villa survived. After changing hands, the land and buildings were given to Fukuyama City in 1953 and renamed Fukuju Kaikan, a name built from the characters for fortune and long life. It opened first as a wedding hall; today its rooms are rented for meetings, tea gatherings and community events.
Registration came in two steps: the Western-style house on 15 July 1997, then the main building, both tea houses and both storehouses on 23 February 2012. The city singles out the main building as a lavish piece of Sukiya-zukuri carpentry, using timber in corridors and ceilings that it describes as close to unobtainable today.
How the Estate Is Laid Out
The main building takes the middle of the north side. A corridor links it to the west storehouse at the northwest corner, a covered walkway runs to the west tea house, and the east storehouse stands to the northeast. The Western-style house is attached toward the east end of the main building and turns its gable to the garden. Across the pond, on its own at the south end, is the south tea house, also called Bojotei, the pavilion for viewing the castle.
The garden is a stroll garden laid out around a pond. The city says a Kyoto garden designer named Nishimura guided the work, which reportedly took ten years. The pond follows the outline of the character for heart, a shape associated with the tea master Kobori Enshu, and is crossed by an arched bridge with railings. On the east side, rocks stage a waterfall meant to suggest a mountain stream gathering into a river; gates, fences, an arbour and a variety of stone lanterns punctuate the paths.
Everything is oriented toward the castle. From the south veranda of the main building, the keep rises beyond the pond and pines. The keep Anbe looked at, however, burned in 1945; the one visible now was rebuilt on the original stone base in 1966 with donations from residents and local companies.
A sensible route is to check in at the office in the main building, look out from the veranda toward the keep, then follow the garden path south to the gate of the south tea house's roji, the tea garden approach. Turn around near the pond's south shore and the low roofs of the main building and the steep gable of the Western-style house line up in a single view, the Japanese wing and Western annex typical of an early Showa villa.
Getting There and Opening Hours
Fukuyama City Fukuju Hall is about five minutes on foot northwest of the north exit of JR Fukuyama Station, in the northeast corner of Fukuyama Castle Park. Drivers need about 20 minutes heading west from the Fukuyama-Higashi interchange of the Sanyo Expressway, but there is no dedicated parking, so use one of the paid car parks nearby.
The hall opens from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It closes on Mondays (or the following day when Monday is a public holiday) and from December 28 to January 3, and occasionally for maintenance. The only fees the city publishes are room rental charges; no charge is listed for walking in the garden.
Because the main building and tea houses are rented out, booked rooms are off limits. If you want to see the interiors, ask at the office on the day (tel. 084-923-1516) which rooms are free. It is also the place to check whether photography is allowed.
Two public events make a visit easier to plan. Citizens' tea gatherings are held in spring and autumn, with a tea ticket of 700 yen in fiscal 2026. From February into March, the Kutsurogi no Hinamatsuri display fills the main building with hina dolls from the Edo period to the present; entry is free, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with last entry at 4 p.m.
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Fukuyama City Fukuju Hall
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00000264
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Fukuyama City Fukuju Hall Main Building
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00009217
- Fukuyama Cultural Properties Navi (Fukuyama City): Fukuyama City Fukuju Hall and five other buildings
- https://fukubun.net/ja/collection/680
- Fukuyama City: Fukuju Kaikan Japanese-style wing (Japanese)
- https://www.city.fukuyama.hiroshima.jp/site/fukuju/16605.html
- Fukuyama City: Fukuju Kaikan garden (Japanese)
- https://www.city.fukuyama.hiroshima.jp/site/fukuju/15916.html
- Fukuyama City: Fukuju Kaikan access (Japanese)
- https://www.city.fukuyama.hiroshima.jp/site/fukuju/15847.html
- Etto Fukuyama (Fukuyama City): Fukuju Kaikan (Japanese)
- https://www.city.fukuyama.hiroshima.jp/site/miryoku2023/288928.html
- Fukuyama City: Fukuju Kaikan events for fiscal 2026 (Japanese)
- https://www.city.fukuyama.hiroshima.jp/site/fukuju/392592.html
- Fukuyama Castle Museum: Fukuju Kaikan (Japanese)
- https://fukuyamajo.jp/miru/fukujyu/
- Fukuyama City: History of Fukuyama Castle (Japanese)
- https://www.city.fukuyama.hiroshima.jp/koho-detail14/koho-202006/187064.html
Last verified: 2026.09.26
Basic Information
| Name | Fukuyama City Fukuju Hall |
|---|---|
| Location | 1-1-1 Marunouchi, Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture, and other locations |
| Owner | Fukuyama City |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (6) |
| Coordinates | 34.49195, 133.36138 |
