Former Shitsu Rescue Center

Father de Rotz's Workshops for the Poor

The Former Shitsu Rescue Center (旧出津救助院) is a welfare and vocational training facility of 1883 to 1885 in Nishishitsumachi, Nagasaki City, Nagasaki Prefecture, and was designated an Important Cultural Property on December 25, 2003 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records three buildings: the training workshop, the macaroni factory and the sardine-net factory; designation number 02442.

Built with Father de Rotz's Own Money

The Former Shitsu Rescue Center stands in the Sotome district, about 20 kilometres northwest of central Nagasaki (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The French missionary Marc Marie de Rotz built it with his own money to relieve the hardship of the villagers, between 1883 and 1885.

Why It Is an Important Cultural Property

The Agency calls it an unparalleled survival of an early Meiji welfare and training facility. Its hybrid construction shows Western techniques and detailing throughout while using local methods such as the "de Rotz wall", making it important for understanding how Japan took in Western building technology in the modern era. The three buildings were designated an Important Cultural Property on December 25, 2003.

Three Buildings on a Steep Slope

The training workshop is a two-storey building of timber and stone, 273.63 square metres in area, under a hipped tiled roof (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The macaroni factory is a single-storey brick building of 39.30 square metres, and the sardine-net factory a single-storey building of brick in a timber frame of 179.34 square metres; they stand apart on a steep slope.

Stone walls, terraces and steps remain on the site and are preserved together with the buildings (Agency for Cultural Affairs). According to Nagasaki City, the sardine-net factory was designed and built by Father de Rotz in 1885 and has served as the Nagasaki City De Rotz Memorial Museum since 1968.

What to Look For

Notice how the three buildings are spread over the steep slope, and the stone walls, terraces and steps around them (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Visiting

According to Nagasaki City, the De Rotz Memorial Museum in the sardine-net factory opens from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and closes from December 29 to January 3. From April 1, 2026, admission, shared with the Sotome History and Folklore Museum, is 650 yen for adults and 330 yen for elementary to high school students. Take a bus bound for Oseto or Itanoura from Nagasaki Station and walk 5 minutes from the Shitsu Bunkamura stop.