Kunimi Furusato Exhibition Hall (Former Arinaga Residence)

A Headman's Estate Turned into a Local Museum

The Kunimi Furusato Exhibition Hall (Former Arinaga Residence) (国見ふるさと展示館（旧有永邸）, Kunimi Furusato Tenjikan, Kyū Arinaga-tei) in Kibe, Kunimi-machi, Kunisaki City, Oita Prefecture, is the estate of Arinaga Saburō, who served as a sōdai Shōya, a headman over several villages, at the end of the Edo period; its main house, detached house, storehouse and stable, built from the early to the mid-Meiji era, were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on December 4, 2000 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records Arinaga as a man of Shimo-Kibe village and dates the main house and storehouse to the early Meiji era and the detached house and stable to the mid-Meiji era. All 4 buildings are owned by Kunisaki City and carry consecutive registration numbers from 44-0046 to 44-0049.

Kunisaki City describes the area as land that prospered under direct shogunate rule in the Edo period, and presents the house and garden of the Kunimi Furusato Exhibition Hall (Former Arinaga Residence) together with the neighbouring Shiroyama Park.

From Private Estate to Town Museum

According to an Oita Prefecture bulletin, the town of Kunimi (now part of Kunisaki City) bought the early Meiji headman's house, restored it and opened it as the Kunimi Furusato Exhibition Hall in October 1997, with the 2-storey main house at the centre and the detached house, storehouse and a Japanese garden around it.

Displays cover Father Petro Kasui Kibe, a native of Kunimi said to have been the first Japanese to visit Jerusalem, finds from the Onizuka burial mound, the Buddhist culture of the Rokugō Manzan temples, and farming and household tools (Tourism Oita; barrier-free guide).

Each registered name gives the building's museum use first and its original role in brackets: the main house is the museum and gallery, the detached house a training hall, the storehouse an exhibition room and the stable a rest house (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Layout and a Walking Route

The main house stands near the middle of the plot and faces west (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The detached house lies to its south-east, reached by a covered corridor from a guest bathroom at the main house's south-east corner. The storehouse sits east of the earth-floored passage at the service end of the main house, and the stable stands to the north, across the passage that runs from the side gate to the stone-posted east gate.

A simple route through the Kunimi Furusato Exhibition Hall (Former Arinaga Residence) is to enter the main house from the west front, go on to the detached house and the storehouse, and finish along the north passage past the stable to the east gate. Each building has its own page with details of its structure.

Visiting

The hall is listed as open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with admission of 200 yen for adults (150 yen each for groups of 15 or more) and free entry for junior high school students and younger (barrier-free guide, information as of December 2023).

The official Oita tourism site gives Wednesday as the closing day (the following day when Wednesday is a public holiday), but another listing shows closures on both Tuesday and Wednesday and from December 29 to January 3. Call the hall on 0978-83-0321 before setting out.

A car is the practical way to reach the Kunimi Furusato Exhibition Hall (Former Arinaga Residence): about 50 minutes from JR Usa Station, or about 45 minutes after leaving the Oita Airport Road, with parking on site (Tourism Oita). There are 5 stone steps at the entrance, which makes wheelchair access difficult (barrier-free guide).

No official notice says whether photography is allowed.