250 px, Aerial picture of Numazu Imperial Villa park The is a former imperial summer residence located in the city of

Numazu, Shizuoka is a city located in eastern Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 189,486 in 91,986 households, and a population density of 1,014 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Numazu is at the n ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house that provided an escape from urban life. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the f ...

was constructed by

Emperor Meiji , posthumously honored as , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the List of emperors of Japan, traditional order of succession, reigning from 1867 until his death in 1912. His reign is associated with the Meiji Restoration of 1868, which ...

in July 1893 and was a favorite residence of his son, Crown Prince Yoshihito, the future

Emperor Taishō , posthumously honored as , was the 123rd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, reigning from 1912 until his death in 1926. His reign, known as the Taishō era, was characterized by a liberal and democratic shift in ...

. The building was a single-story wooden structure with an area of 1200 square meters. The grounds covered 104,402 square meters, and it was located facing

Suruga Bay Suruga Bay (駿河湾, ''Suruga-wan'') is a bay on the Pacific coast of Honshū in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is situated north of a straight line from Omaezaki Point to Irōzaki Point at the tip of the Izu Peninsula and surrounded by Honsh� ...

adjacent to the Senbon-Matsubara, a scenic pine grove. The villa also had views of

Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano located on the Japanese island of Honshu, with a summit elevation of . It is the highest mountain in Japan, the second-highest volcano on any Asian island (after Mount Kerinci on the Indonesian island of Sumatra), a ...

to the north-north west. In the neighborhood were the villas of a number of important political figures of the times, including that of

Oyama Iwao Oyama, Ōyama or Ohyama may refer to: * Oyama, Tochigi (), a city in Japan * Ōyama, Ōita (), a town in Japan * Oyama, Shizuoka (), a town in Japan * Ōyama, Toyama, (), a former town in Japan * Mount Ōyama (Kanagawa) (), a mountain in Japan * ...

, Saigō Jūdō and

Ōki Takatō Count , was a Japanese statesman during the early Meiji period. He was Governor of Tokyo in 1868 and a member of the Japanese Privy Council in 1889.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Ōki Takatō" in . Biography Ōki was born into a ''sam ...

. The villa was expanded twice, once in 1903 (the east annex) and once in 1905 (the west annex). The east annex was originally a building of the

Akasaka Palace is a of the government of Japan. Other state guesthouses of the government include the Kyoto State Guest House. The palace was originally built as the in 1909. Today the palace is designated by the government of Japan as an official accommod ...

estate in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

used by the high steward to the crown prince. The west annex was originally a villa belonging to count

Kawamura Sumiyoshi Count , was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy. Kawamura's wife Haru was the aunt of Saigō Takamori. Biography A native of Satsuma, Kawamura studied navigation at Tokugawa bakufu naval school at Nagasaki, the Nagasaki Naval Training Cent ...

. The future

Emperor Hirohito , Posthumous name, posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigni ...

spent 70 days at the villa as a child. During the bombing of Numazu in World War II, the main building of the villa was hit by an American bomb and burned down. The villa was turned over to the Numazu city government in 1969, and was opened to the public as the in 1970.

External links

Numazu City home page

Official website of the palace and park

English language travel article on the Numazu Imperial Villa
{{Imperial Palaces Japan Imperial residences in Japan Buildings and structures in Shizuoka Prefecture Buildings and structures in Japan destroyed during World War II Numazu, Shizuoka Houses completed in 1893 1893 establishments in Japan