Hyogo Castle - First Prefectural Office
When Hyogo Jin'ya was abolished at the end of the Edo Period, its story did not end. The new Meiji government built the first prefectural office (初代県庁舎) in the old castle/jin'ya compound, repurposing the surviving buildings. The buildings were too small and in poor condition to meet the needs of th
Hyogo Castle - Hyogo Castle - First Prefectural Office
初代県庁舎
When Hyogo Jin'ya was abolished at the end of the Edo Period, its story did not end. The new Meiji government built the first prefectural office (初代県庁舎) in the old castle/jin'ya compound, repurposing the surviving buildings.
The buildings were too small and in poor condition to meet the needs of the newly created Hyogo Prefecture, so this first prefectural office stood for only about a year before being replaced by a more formal building elsewhere.
Today, on a corner of the former castle site beside the Hyogo-no-tsu Museum, a faithful reconstruction of that short-lived office has been built. Known as the 初代県庁館, in effect, it is a reconstruction of the Hyogo Jin’ya buildings. That the prefecture chose to rebuild this transitional set of structures memorializes this transformation from Edo to Meiji periods.
It’s often mentioned only in passing on other castle sites and blogs, but for us castle enthusiasts, this building deserves recognition as a tangible link between Hyogo Jin’ya, and the new age Hyogo Prefecture.
Feature Pages
