What the Abashiri Prison Museum Brick Solitary Confinement Cell is
The Abashiri Prison Museum Brick Solitary Confinement Cell (博物館網走監獄煉瓦造独居房, Hakubutsukan Abashiri Kangoku Rengazukuri Dokkyobō) is a single-storey brick punishment cell in Yobito, Abashiri City, Hokkaido, dated to 1912 and listed as a national Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 13 August 2012. It has a floor area of 11 square metres and measures 3.74 metres by 2.83 metres.
The roof is a gabled Kirizuma-zukuri finished in Sangawara-buki, and the walls are 0.4 metres of English bond. Doorways open at the front and the back. Behind the front doorway is an antechamber closed off with an iron grating, and beyond that the cell itself, floored in planks.
There are no windows. The doors are doubled. Between that and the thickness of the walls, the purpose of the building needs no explaining.
Built from bricks fired inside the walls
From the last years of the Meiji era, Abashiri Prison took in inmates from prisons on Honshu who knew how to make bricks, and set them to firing bricks on site. What came out of the kilns went into the perimeter wall, the gates, the storehouses and the cells. The Abashiri Prison Museum Brick Solitary Confinement Cell is one of the buildings raised from that supply.
Meiji prison regulations prescribed that a man who broke the rules be shut in a dark, windowless room on reduced rations until he reflected on what he had done. This cell is thought to have been built to meet those rules. Its name changed as the regulations did, from punishment cell to disciplinary cell and later to protective cell.
The building was moved to the present grounds in 1991.
Why it is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property
Registration number 01-0126 was granted under the criterion of being a model of design. The Agency for Cultural Affairs entry notes how rarely penal buildings of the Meiji period survive at all.
Prison structures are usually demolished once they fall out of use, and buildings associated with punishment least often escape that. Here a masonry cell has come through with its internal plan intact, which is what gives the Abashiri Prison Museum Brick Solitary Confinement Cell its standing.
The two-stage layout is part of the record as well. A doubled door with a grated antechamber between is not decoration; it is the procedure for holding and watching a man, translated into brick and iron.
What to look for
Check the thickness of the wall first. The figure of 0.4 metres becomes real at the doorway reveal, where the opening runs deeper than an outstretched arm.
The bond is English: one course of stretchers, one of headers, alternating. Bricks from the prison kilns vary in colour, so the red runs deeper on some faces than others.
Then look up. Tiles sit on top of the brickwork, a gabled roof laid in pantiles, and from outside the building could pass for a small northern outbuilding. The weight of the Abashiri Prison Museum Brick Solitary Confinement Cell is not visible from the path. It arrives when you reach the iron grating of the antechamber.
Visiting
The Abashiri Prison Museum Brick Solitary Confinement Cell is shown within the grounds of the Abashiri Prison Museum, an open-air museum. How far inside visitors may go depends on the signage on the day; the usual approach is to look through the iron grating of the antechamber into the cell.
Admission is 1,500 yen for adults, 1,000 yen for high school students and 750 yen for elementary and junior high school students, with a 20 percent discount for groups of 20 or more and a rate of 750 yen for visitors presenting a disability certificate. Opening hours are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., last admission 4:00 p.m., with closures on 31 December and 1 January.
Photography is permitted apart from certain exhibits and marked areas, while filming for video-sharing sites and live streaming are not allowed. Damage or graffiti to buildings and exhibits may result in a claim for compensation.
The museum is about 4 kilometres from JR Abashiri Station, roughly 10 minutes by bus, and about 20 minutes by car from Memanbetsu Airport. Parking is free. The Abashiri Prison Museum Brick Solitary Confinement Cell lies towards the later part of the visitor route, so leave enough time to reach it.
Q&A
- What kind of building is the Abashiri Prison Museum Brick Solitary Confinement Cell?
- A brick cell built to hold rule-breakers in isolation. It covers 11 square metres, the walls are 0.4 metres thick, there are no windows and the doors are doubled.
- Where were the bricks of the Abashiri Prison Museum Brick Solitary Confinement Cell made?
- Inside Abashiri Prison. From the late Meiji era the prison brought in inmates with brick-making skills from Honshu and used the bricks they fired for walls, gates, storehouses and cells.
- Why did the name of the Abashiri Prison Museum Brick Solitary Confinement Cell keep changing?
- Because the prison regulations kept changing. It was called a punishment cell, then a disciplinary cell, then a protective cell, each name reflecting how confinement was officially understood at the time.
- Can visitors see inside the Abashiri Prison Museum Brick Solitary Confinement Cell?
- An iron grating closes the antechamber on the front side, with the plank-floored cell behind it. How far inside you may go is indicated by signage at the building on the day of your visit.
- When was the Abashiri Prison Museum Brick Solitary Confinement Cell moved to the museum?
- In 1991. Its construction is dated to 1912.
Basic Information
| Name | Abashiri Prison Museum Brick Solitary Confinement Cell |
|---|---|
| Location | 1-1 Yobito, Abashiri City, Hokkaido |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered in 2012 (Heisei 24) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Floor area 11 square metres (3.74 metres by 2.83 metres) |
| Owner | Abashiri Prison Preservation Foundation |
| Public Access | Open to the public (9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., last admission 4:00 p.m.) |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Abashiri Prison Museum Brick Solitary Confinement Cell
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00009251
- Abashiri Prison Museum: Brickwork Punishment Chamber
- https://www.kangoku.jp/exhibits/brick-solitary-cell
- Abashiri Prison Museum: Visitor Information
- https://www.kangoku.jp/info/visit
Last verified: 2026.09.13