Nanzan Museum (Mihara)

An Early-Showa Clinic in a Fishing Village

The Nanzan Museum (南山資料館) is an early-Showa, two-storey timber clinic in Western style at Noji, Sagicho, Mihara City, Hiroshima Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on April 21, 1998. Its ground floor now serves as a museum of the metal engraver Shimizu Nanzan, a native of Sagicho (Mihara City).

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as a two-storey timber building with a tiled roof and a building area of 85 square metres; registration number 34-0015.

A Clinic and the Engraver Shimizu Nanzan

According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the building was a clinic with medical rooms on the ground floor and rooms for receiving guests upstairs.

According to Mihara City, Shimizu Nanzan (born Kamezo, 1875 to 1948) was a celebrated metal engraver born in Noji village. He studied at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, taught there as a professor from 1919 to 1945, and served as an Imperial Household Artist and member of the Imperial Fine Arts Academy. His best-known work is a gilt seal box with plum blossoms. He was the elder brother of the grandmother of the painter Hirayama Ikuo, and encouraged the boy to become a painter.

Why It Was Registered

The Nanzan Museum was registered as a building that contributes to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that its central entrance is the key accent of the design, and that it is loved locally as a Western-style building.

What to Look For

The Nanzan Museum is a Western-style building with a hipped pantiled roof, its windows neatly aligned on both floors (Mihara City, Mihara Tourism Association).

Above the central entrance is an arched window framed in imitation stonework, the accent of the facade (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Mihara Tourism Association). Items associated with Shimizu Nanzan are on display inside (Mihara City).

Visiting the Nanzan Museum

According to Mihara City, visits to the Nanzan Museum are by enquiry to the Mihara City Culture Section (0848-64-9234). The address is 4-10-12 Noji, Sagicho, Mihara City, about 10 minutes' walk from Aki-Saizaki Station on the JR Kure Line (Mihara Tourism Association).