The Miyazaki Trading House was constructed in 1907 as an office for the coal trade in Tanaka-machi, Shimonoseki City nearby Karato Pier. After the war, it was used as a hair salon from the late 1960s until recently. Repair work was carried out in 2008, and today the 1st floor has a clinic, and a portion of the 2nd floor exhibits materials related to Michiyo Kogure, an actress who was from Shimonoseki City. Originally, YoshikazuGiichi Miyazaki who energized the coal export industry in Kobe, established a branch office in Shimonoseki in 1893 and then moved the base of business to Shimonoseki. Shimonoseki Port around that time was capturing attention for storing fuel for ships and as a coaling port for supply, and Mitsubishi Co., which had begun expanding into Chikuho Coalfields, opened the Shimonoseki Mitsubishi Colliery Satellite Office in 1889 to sell and ship Chikuho coal. Furthermore, Samuel Samuel & Co. , a British firm that developed large-scale business in supplying coal, established a branch office in Nishinanbe-machi, Shimonoseki City. Also, major companies conducting coal business entered Shimonoseki. This included Kaijima Gomei gomei gGaisha (Kaijima Generalunlimited Ppartnership), a local coal company said to be one of the “Big Three of Chikuho, which moved its head office in 1920 to 2 Karato-cho north of the British Consulate in Shimonoseki. The 3-story brick building that became the head office of the Kaijima gomei gaishageisha (Kaijima General Partnership) Kaijima company was the Shimonoseki Branch Office of Jardine, Matheson & Co. During the war, it was directly hit by incendiary bombs during an air raid and dismantled after the war. The exterior of the 3-story part of the building and the 2nd-floor veranda of the Former Miyazaki Trading House are nearly identical in design, though the scale differs. It is thought that major remodeling took place when the hair salon moved into this building, so the interior is largely different in appearance, but a portion of the plane composition is identical to the Former British Consulate in Shimonoseki. In addition, like in a best-of compilation, as if touching on the highlights, similarities can be seen in the exterior with the Former British Consulate in Shimonoseki. The area around the windows had been completely changed, but the form was restored based on old photos from around the early 1900s. The street facing the building’s front was once called Nishinohashi Street, and looking at old photos shows that the Former Miyazaki Trading House was a building symbolizing this street and forms an historic scene together with the Former Telephone Exchange Office that still stands today. It is also noteworthy this is the only structure in this area indicating bearing witness to the role that Shimonoseki Port played as a coaling station in the past.
■ Information
Address:4-10 Tanaka-machi, Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture
Tel: 083-231-1350
Parking:available
Hours :
Closed :
Fee :
Other/Notifications:Only the exterior can be viewed
URL:
■Category
Category: Constituent cultural properties
Genre: Story 3
Areas:Shimonoseki area