Kurume History Walks
Sakamoto

No.32 Sakamoto Hanjiro House

HanjiroSeika

坂本繁二郎生家

This house is the only samurai residence existing in our city and was designated a Municipal
Cultural Property. Sakamoto Hanjiro (1882-1969), a nationally renowned painter, was born andraised there.
It was opened to the public in 2010 after renovation work of four years.

Completion drawing (The restoration was finished in 2010)

In 1910, Hanjiro soldhis house to earn aliving in Tokyo. On theback of the photo(right) he wrote thatthat was thecommemoration ofparting with it.

In 19091Kurume History Walks / No.32 Sakamoto Hanjiro House

Hanjiro was born to an ex-samurai class household in
Kyomachi, Kurume in 1882. His father was a retainer ofKurume Domain. During his elementary school days,
Aoki Shigeru* and he were in the same class. Since then,they had been lifelong friends as well as good rivals.
Hanjiro went up to Tokyo at the age of twenty. Hebuilt up his position in the art world and took part of thefounding of the Nika Association, which is still one oflarge independent art groups. At thirty-nine, he went toFrance. After returning toJapan, he came back to *Aoki Shigeru (1882-1911): Painter ofKurume and lived in Youga-style (Western-style). He had left
behind outstanding works such as “Umi noYame. He received the Sachi”, “Wadatsumi no Iroko no Miya”,
both were designated National
Order of Culture at which
Important Cultural Properties.
seventy-four and died ateighty-seven in 1969.

His last name, Sakamoto
坂本 appears upside
down. At that time, thename of homeowners andfacilities on the map waswritten toward the gate or
the entrance.

History of Sakamoto (坂 本 ) FamilyOriginally from Settsu Province (today’s Osaka),
the Sakamoto family followed their lord Tanaka
Yoshimasa, who came to govern Chikugo Province in1601. But the Tanaka family ended in 1620. Then 25years later, Sakamoto Hanbee Yoshimasa was taken into
the service of Kurume Domain’s new lord.

House of the Sakamoto

Map of castle town during Tempo Era (1831-1845)

Location of the house - Sakamoto Hanjiro Seika
His family’s land was about 1500 square meters and the house was 32.7m long by 45.5m deep.

An Enatsubo* was found from under
the floor of the entrance.
*There was a custom that when a childwas born, the placenta in a ceramic jar
was buried at a frequented place topray for the healthy growth.

Passage with arranged roof tiles

Traces of the foundation stones which
was removed.
Arranged roof tiles and pebbles on theground in front of the entrance.
▲ S ke t ch o f t h e h o u se in 1919’s a c c o r d i n g t o t h e r e s u l t o f t h e r e s e a r c h

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Kurume History Walks / No.32 Sakamoto Hanjiro House

OverviewHanjiro got married in 1910, and he moved to Tokyo with his mother.
Then, their neighbor, the Yamada family, bought his house and maintained
it until they donated it to Kurume City in 2002. It is a two-story wooden
house which is composed of two buildings: one with a straw-thatched roof
and the other with a tiled roof.
There is a sketch of the house drawn in the 1920s with some points
added according to the memory of Hanjiro’s wife. The entrance, the earthen
floor, and the tearoom don’t exist today, but its basic form as a samuraihouse remains. It was divided into the living space (living room, living dining room, and kitchen) and the receiving space (reception room andanteroom).
Incidentally, Shigeru stayed at the tearoom for three months. They drew
pictures on the sliding screen which still exist (photo on the next page).

Research and restoration work
The restoration work started in 2006, and the house was open to thepublic four years later. We studied it during the restoration to the originalform of the time when Hanjiro went to Tokyo at the age of twenty in 1902.
As a result of the research, we found many things as follows:

Sakamoto Hanjiro House just before restoration

AtticWooden Tag with thenames of carpenters andthe construction year

Restoration work tour

Research of building materials

Wall3
Kurume History Walks / No.32 Sakamoto Hanjiro House- The house was constructed in three phases:
first the reception room and anteroom, next
the meeting room, and then the kitchen.
- A wooden tag (photo on the previous page)
was found in the kitchen. It was dated from
1874. We estimate that the rest of the house
was built before that year.
- The old paper documents of which the one
mentioned the Boshin war (a nationalrevolution) in 1868 were discovered from thewall.
- The trace of the foundation stones of thetearoom, where Shigeru stayed, wereexcavated.
- The passage around the house was pavedwith the arranged roof tiles. The pebbles forrain drainage were spread under the eaves.
- An Enatsubo pot was buried under the floorof the entrance. There used to be a custom of
putting a newborn baby’s placenta in aceramic jar and burying it at a place wherepeople often pass, for praying for healthy
growth.

Sliding screen painting, seemingly painted by Hanjiro

For renovating this house, the old
construction materials were reused andassembled by a traditional technique. But
some modern facilities were also installed sothat anybody could use them for variousactivities.
Three Grazing Horses (Hoboku Sanba)

Chikugo River
JR Kurume Station
Sakamoto Hanjiro House

City Hall

Cultural Properties Protection
Department of Kurume
Address: 15-3 Jonan Kurume Fukuoka
Japan 830-8520
Tel: 0942-30-9225
Date of publication: February 25th, 2009
Translated in September 2020

Shojima Primary School

Former house of Aoki Shigeru

ACCESS

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Kurume History Walks / No.32 Sakamoto Hanjiro House