Sasaki Nobutsuna Memorial Museum

About the Sasaki Nobutsuna Memorial Museum

The Sasaki Nobutsuna Memorial Museum (佐佐木信綱記念館) is a museum beside the old Tokaido road at Ishiyakushi-cho, Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, opened on December 12, 1970, at the birthplace of the poet and scholar Sasaki Nobutsuna, whose main house of 1868, storehouse of 1875 and Ishiyakushi Bunko Reading Room of 1932 were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (structures) on October 28, 2011 (Suzuka City, Agency for Cultural Affairs).

According to Suzuka City, the museum consists of the birthplace, an exhibition building of 1986, the Ishiyakushi Bunko and the storehouse. The exhibition building displays his first Order of Culture, his writings and personal belongings. All three registered buildings are owned by Suzuka City (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Sasaki Nobutsuna and Ishiyakushi

According to Suzuka City, Sasaki Nobutsuna was born at Ishiyakushi on June 3, 1872, the eldest son of the National Learning scholar Sasaki Hirotsuna. He wrote more than 10,000 poems, led the Chikuhakukai society and founded its journal Kokoro no Hana, and published a critical edition of the Man'yoshu. He received the first Order of Culture in 1937 and wrote the words of the song "Natsu wa Kinu".

Three Buildings

The main house of his birthplace is a townhouse facing the old Tokaido, with a gabled tiled roof, a low attic, a through earthen passage and two rows of three rooms. The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls it one of the few townhouses left in the old post town, and visitors can view the interior from the garden (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Suzuka City).

The storehouse north of the main house is a small two-storey clay-walled building of 14 square metres with plaster walls above wooden wainscoting. The Ishiyakushi Bunko Reading Room, the library Nobutsuna gave his hometown for his sixtieth birthday, has cream mortar walls and large windows and is still used as a local library (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Suzuka City).

Visiting and Location

According to Suzuka City, admission to the Sasaki Nobutsuna Memorial Museum is free, with viewing from 10:00 to 16:00. It is closed on Mondays, Tuesdays and the third Wednesday (open when only the Monday is a holiday) and over the New Year. Take the C-Bus from Kintetsu Suzukashi Station or JR Kawano Station to the Sasaki Kinenkan stop, about a 2-minute walk (Suzuka City).

The address is 1707-3 Ishiyakushi-cho, Suzuka City (telephone 059-374-3140).