Minami-Nippon Bank Head Office

Corinthian Columns on Kagoshima's Main Street

The Minami-Nippon Bank Head Office (南日本銀行本店) is a reinforced concrete bank building completed in 1937 in Yamashitacho, Kagoshima City, Kagoshima Prefecture, which in 1998 was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records six storeys and a building area of 1333 square metres, owned by Minami-Nippon Bank and registered as a model of design.

The Agency notes that it was built as the Kagoshima branch of Kagoshima Mujin, designed by Mikami Noboru, a former prefectural architect.

Structure

According to the Agency, the building plays off a main storey of Corinthian columns rising through three floors against an attic of stacked arched windows and a curved rooftop tower.

The bank notes that the first three floors mix Renaissance and Secession styles. Originally four storeys, partly six, it was enlarged in 1967, with ground improvement, to one basement and eight storeys above ground.

What to Look For

The Agency notes that, facing streets on three sides, it serves as a landmark. The bank describes it as the earliest surviving historicist building in Kagoshima Prefecture, well preserved as built.

The giant Corinthian columns rising through three floors are the highlight of the front. Since December 2023 the bank has lit the building every night from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., changing colours with the seasons.

Visiting the Minami-Nippon Bank Head Office

The head office is a working bank, and the exterior can be seen from the street. The banking hall can be used during business hours.

According to the bank, the building is lit every night from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.