Egawa Residence

The Egawa Residence, built in the early Edo period, is the oldest surviving residence of the Egawa family, who served as deputies to the Edo Shogunate for many generations.

It is located in the “Ruins of Nirayama Yakusho (government office),” a nationally designated historic site. The Egawa family was a prominent family that controlled Nirayama Prefecture.

The site consists of a flat area on the east side and Tenjinzan on the west side, and is right-angled triangular in shape, measuring approximately 150 meters from east to west and 200 meters from north to south.

Five storehouses, including the main building, the front gate, the shoin (study room), and the east storehouse, stand in a row around the main building.

The main building is a magnificent structure built in about 1600, known for its characteristic single-story hip-and-gable construction and geometric woodwork in the attic as a seismically isolated structure.

It was remodeled and enlarged by Ei Ei, father of Eiryu Egawa, who also built the building.

During repairs in the early Showa period (1926-1989), the irimoya-zukuri was replaced with a copper shingle roof, but it has been preserved in its original form and handed down to the present day.

The magnificent structure of the ceiling and the main roof of the main building is also worth seeing. The mechanically constructed ceiling and the live pillars made from standing timbers are especially worth seeing.

The main house has a spacious earthen floor with a fireplace. Nowadays, the kamado is rarely lit, and is used only for the Gusoku-opening, Okaigi ceremonies, and bread memorials.

Inside the main house, valuable artifacts are on display, including the legendary “living pillar” and a munefuda box containing a “fire prevention talisman” given by Nichiren Shonin.

The Egawa family never experienced fire, and as a result, a variety of items have been preserved, including documents, calligraphy, paintings, and weapons. These exhibits amount to approximately 100,000 items.

The beautiful garden is surrounded by moso bamboo and decorated with plum trees, cherry trees, and maple trees. There is a pond in the inner garden, and to the southwest is a cluster of Nirayama bamboo and a shrine called Meifongsha.

Also located in the garden is the “Monument to the Bread Founder,” commemorating the 36th head of the family, Tarozaemon Eiryu, who was the first to introduce bread as a portable food for soldiers.

The building is highly regarded in architectural history as a valuable structure and is designated as a National Important Cultural Property.

Cultural Properties

The Egawa Family Residence consists of seven buildings: the main building, shoin (drawing room), butsuma (Buddhist room), higashizo (east storehouse), manure storehouse, armory, and front gate, all of which are designated as Important Cultural Properties.

The land (the house site and the grounds of the Chinju-sha Shrine) is also designated as an Important Cultural Property, as are the surrounding ponds and wells.

Also included are a North American warehouse, a South American warehouse, a back gate, a Shinto shrine, an earthen wall, and a board fence. Documents related to the construction are also included.

In addition, there are 38,581 documents and records, manuscripts of writings, Japanese and Chinese books, translations, Western books, books and paintings, weapons and arms, and vessels related to the Egawa family.

The collection also contains 461 photographs related to the Egawa family. The museum is open to the public as a valuable historical heritage.

Nirayama Daikan Sho (Nirayama Magistrate’s Office)

The Egawa Residence is located within the Nirayama Yakusho Site, a nationally designated historical site, and is also known as part of the Nirayama Daganjo, a government office established in the Edo period to control the territories directly under the control of the shogunate in the eastern part of Japan.

The Nirayama Daganjo was a government office established in the Edo period to rule over the territories directly under the shogunate in the eastern part of Japan, and its jurisdiction extended from Izu Province to Suruga Province, Sagami Province, Musashi Province, and later to Kai Province.

Occasionally, the Izu Islands also came under its jurisdiction. The amount of stone value of a deputy ranged from 50,000 to 100,000 koku, and descendants of the Egawa family ruled as deputies.

The Nirayama district was located in Edo Honjo and Nirayama, and was situated in the residence of the Egawa family. Generally, deputies were stationed in Edo in the summer and in Nirayama in the winter.

The Edo Office was in charge of Musashi, Sagami, and Kai, while the Nirayama Office was in charge of Izu and Suruga.

In addition, Mishima Jinya, Tanimura Jinya, Matsuoka Jinya, Arakawa Branch Office, etc. were established to assist the business of the Nirayama deputy magistrate.

It all started in 1596 when Hidenaga Egawa was appointed to the post of Izu deputy governor. The Egawa family had jurisdiction over part of Izu Province, but expanded their domain after the Genroku era (1688-1704).

In 1723, the position of deputy was temporarily dismissed, but it was later reinstated and the family assumed full control over the shogunate’s territory in Izu Province. The Egawa family was succeeded by successive generations of Nirayama deputies until the Meiji Restoration.

Egawa Eiryu

Egawa Hidetatsu (1801-1855) was a shogunate official of the late Edo period who served as a deputy in charge of Izu Nirayama.

He was also known as Tarozaemon and as Tan’an. In Nirayama, “Tan’an” is commonly read as “Tannan.

Egawa Tarozaemon Eiryu (Tan’an), the 36th generation of the Egawa family, focused his efforts on maritime defense as a famous representative official and left behind many achievements, including coastal surveying, the construction of the Harayama Reverberatory Furnace and Odaiba, building Japan’s first Western-style sailing ship, the introduction of smallpox, and the first bread production in Japan. A monument to the founder of bread stands in his residence.

At the time, ships of Western powers were frequently seen around the Japanese archipelago, and Eiryu, who was greatly interested in Western studies and especially modern sea defense methods, built a reverberatory furnace and popularized Western gunnery in Japan.

Although he was a local deputy, Eiryu was an advocate for naval defense and was unusually promoted to the rank of shogun, dying of illness shortly before entering the shogunate.

Eiryu is also known for baking Western-style bread, and is called “Bread Ancestor” in modern times.

The Egawa family is of the Yamato Genji lineage and has a proud history dating back to the Kamakura period (1185-1333). During the Edo period (1603-1868), the family was engaged in civil administration as a deputy in charge of Izu Nirayama. Eiryu was the 36th head of the family.

He became a legitimate son of Eiki upon the death of his elder brother, trained as an apprentice to become a deputy, and became a deputy at the age of 34 after the death of his father. Before becoming a deputy, he is said to have been friends with many samurai, learned swordsmanship, and roamed around the territory of the deputy’s lands.

In Kai Province, where Eiryu ruled, a large-scale riot broke out, in which Mushuku (Hakodate) also took part. Eiryu was concerned that the riot might spread to other areas, including the shogunate territory, so he went to Kai to secretly investigate (Koshu Bikou).

His administration remained fair and he succeeded in gaining the trust of the people. When the technology of smallpox was introduced, he actively promoted inoculation of the people. The people of his domain respected him as the “Great Myojin Egawa,” or “the Great Reverend Egawa, the Reformer of the World.

From the latter half of the Edo period (1603-1867), foreign vessels began to appear more frequently in the seas around Japan, and the shogunate responded by enacting an ordinance for the extermination of foreign vessels. Eiryu studied from early on under the Western scholar Hatasaki Ting, and proposed the idea of sea defense.

Later, a patrol was conducted to strengthen the defense of Edo Bay, and while promoting the introduction of Western gunnery, Eryu established the “Egawa Juku” to educate clansmen throughout the country to spread the necessity of strengthening sea defense.

Eiryu traveled to Nagasaki to study modern gunnery under Takashima Akiho and further improved upon it to spread Western gunnery.

His measures to strengthen naval defense were partially realized, but not completely, due to a change in the Shogunate’s policy and the reluctance of Masahiro Abe, the then chief retainer of the shogunate.

Eiryu was also considering the organization of an agricultural army and modern equipment, including the research and development of explosive shells, but his busy schedule made him ill and he died in 1855. He was 55 years old.

After his death, his eldest son, Hidetoshi, succeeded in organizing an agricultural army. Hidetoshi’s successor, Eitake, served as the prefectural governor of Nirayama Prefecture. Eiryu’s daughter Eiko was adopted by Kido Takayoshi and became a diplomat’s wife.

From an early age, Egawa Eiryu received a broad education in academics, swordsmanship, painting, and other subjects. She also focused on the importance of bread for soldiers from the viewpoint of national defense, and baked Japan’s first soldier’s bread. For this reason, he is called the “founder of bread.

He also organized a modern Western-style army, and invented such orders and shouts as “Attention,” “Turn to the right,” and “Kairore-right.

His influence was wide-ranging, and he was also an expert in forestry, planting trees on Mt. He is also credited with driving the first steam locomotive presented by Perry in the presence of Shogun Iesada.

Yukichi Fukuzawa also took him up as a hero, and the Egawa family mansion later became the Keio University building.

On the other hand, he was a stubborn sea defense theorist, and unlike others who advocated the importance of sea defense before the opening of Japan, he did not turn to the theory of opening the country and trade.

Egawa Eiryu was a pioneer in many fields and contributed to the modernization of Japan.