Former Shigetomi Shimazu Family Villa

A Villa of a Shimazu Branch Family Overlooking Kinko Bay

The Former Shigetomi Shimazu Family Villa (旧重富島津家別邸, Kyu Shigetomi Shimazu-ke Bettei) is a late Meiji villa of a Shimazu branch family in Shimizucho, Kagoshima City, Kagoshima Prefecture, whose main house and stone wall were registered in 2014 as two Registered Tangible Cultural Properties.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records the owner as Plus S Corporation, and describes the main house as a fine villa of a former daimyo family.

It is now used as a wedding venue and restaurant, the Manor House Shimazu Shigetomiso.

The Shigetomi Shimazu and Their Villa

The operating company says the Shigetomi Shimazu headed the branch families of the Satsuma domain, and that after the Meiji Restoration the 21st head, Shimazu Uzuhiko, third son of Shimazu Hisamitsu, and his wife Noriko, fourth daughter of Shimazu Nariakira, made this their main residence. The site was also once a villa of the Imaizumi Shimazu, the family of Atsuhime.

The company notes that it reopened in 2006 as the Manor House Shimazu Shigetomiso. Its gardens of some 4,000 tsubo look out over Sakurajima and Kinko Bay, and it was a location for the 1967 film You Only Live Twice.

Layout

The Agency describes the main house facing south at the centre of the site, three blocks including the audience hall arranged in echelon, with a hip-and-gable entrance at the east end.

The stone wall runs south from the southeast corner of the audience hall, bending with the ground and changing height.

Visiting the Former Shigetomi Shimazu Family Villa

The buildings operate as a wedding venue and restaurant, and no official information on visiting them as cultural properties could be found. The company gives closing days as Tuesday and Wednesday, except holidays.

The company gives the address as 31-7 Shimizucho, about 5 minutes by taxi from JR Kagoshima Station or 15 minutes from the east exit of Kagoshima-Chuo Station. Enquiries: 099-247-3122. The Agency records the location as 18 Shimizucho.