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Fujino Museum of Local History Partial Diorama of Early Modern Yoshino Sericulture Display

Like most small towns in Japan, Fujino has a museum of local history, this one located in the building that was originally the Fujiya inn. Located just across the street from the site of the Yoshino honjin (official inn), the Fujiya was no doubt a popular stop in the days of the old post station, but the inn and some 200 other buildings were lost in a great fire on the last day of December, 1896, a vivid symbol, perhaps, of the ending of an age. The end of the feudal Tokugawa regime and opening of Japan to the West had already spelled great changes for the locality. The Chûô Railroad was scheduled to open in 1901, effectively passing Yoshino by, and meaning that traffic on the Kôshû Kaidô would be growing even thinner. The writing was on the wall, and when the Fujiya was rebuilt in 1897, the owners decided it was time to leave the hostlery business. Since Japan's recent opening to the West had made the silk trade a booming industry, the owners designed the new structure to accommodate sericulture instead. Now (as of 1999) 102 years old, the three-story building houses the museum of local history, a dark and dusty collection of old farming tools, fire-fighting implements and firemen's uniforms, early modern household goods, sericulture equipment, butterfly collections . . . The museum also features a small model of the Yoshino district of the early-modern town. Overall, the place is somewhat depressing and ill-kept, but I suppose the money just isn't there to do more. Occasionally, a special exhibit is held devoted to some aspect of local history. One wonders, though, why, with all the complaints about delinquency and trouble finding "things for kids to do" with the coming nationwide implementation of the five-day school week, that someone couldn't invent some kind of volunteer guide program to get junior-high youngsters involved in their community, guiding tourists through the Fujiya and other historical sites, while simultaneously helping to preserve them? Hours: 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM; regular holidays: Monday and Thursday. Telephone (Japanese only): 0426-87-5022. To return to your previous location, use your browser's "BACK" button, or click your heels together three times while saying, "there's no place like home" . . .

Green Gables: A Contemplative Companion to Fujino Township
by Norman Havens nhavens@gol.com
Updated: April 20, 2002

URL: http://www2.gol.com/users/nhavens/htmlfile/mus-e.html