Hagi Castle - Hagi Museum and Meirinkan

Hagi Museum The Hagi Museum covers much more than just the samurai lineage, but that's our focus here. The site of the museum is the Ohno Mōri Residence, a senior branch family of the Mōri clan. Thanks to detailed maps made in 1847 a faithful reconstruction of the corner yagura and a nagayam

Hagi Castle - Hagi Museum and Meirinkan

萩博物館と明倫館

Hagi Museum The Hagi Museum covers much more than just the samurai lineage, but that's our focus here. The site of the museum is the Ohno Mōri Residence, a senior branch family of the Mōri clan. Thanks to detailed maps made in 1847 a faithful reconstruction of the corner yagura and a nagayamon based on the designs from the Kumagai Residence were possible. The 2 story corner yagura is bigger than similar yagura at many castles! This corner yagura is particularly interesting because it also provides a turret covering the Naka-no-mon, the middle gate, across the sotobori. The main road from the gate ran alongside this turret and nagayamon to reach the castle so the Ohno Mōri also played a vital role in the defense of the castle.The map also shows the location of shrubbery, including several citrus trees, indicating that natsu mikan were cultivated well before the Meiji Period.

Meirinkan The Meirinkan was another name for the Hanko, or, Domain School. The big building you see on this site today called Meirinkan is actually an elementary school from the Meiji Period. It was renovated in 2017 and reopened as a cultural and tourist facility. It also houses a tourist information center and a good shop to pick up Hagi souvenirs. This is probably a good place to start and end your trip to Hagi. Bicycles can be rented at the outdoor Tourist Information Center. Most long distance buses also stop here on the way to the Higashi Hagi Train Station, making it an easy point to start your exploration of the city.

Even though no buildings remain from the original Meirinkan, there are some other extant structures from the Edo Period: Yubikan (hall for practicing martial arts), the South Gate and the Kantokumon Gate. These are pictured below. The original Yubikan was 4 similar sized halls. When the Meirinkan was moved from its former location to this one, two of them were put together to create this 1 larger hall that looks like it has two different sides.