A thoughtful visit to Yukichi Fukuzawa's former residence and museum

3.5
旅行時期：2025/02（約1年前）

by Cyberさん（男性）

耶馬溪・中津・玖珠クチコミ：7件

日本近代の教育の礎を築いた教育者・福沢諭吉氏の旧居と、氏の遺品や氏にまつわる史料が展示されている記念館で構成される施設です。
記念館内の展示フロアーは2階構成となっており、エレベーターが設置されているため車椅子等の障碍を持つ方でも気軽に利用できる構造となっています。氏が残した書物や書簡が数多く展示され、往年の氏の軌跡だけでなく、晩年に至っても尚教育者として身をやつしていたことが分かり、それは遺された写真からでも分かります。一部ミニクイズが設置されているコーナーもあるため、子供でも楽しめる施設になっていると思います（とは言え大半が書簡や書籍を始めとする史料であるため、小さい子供は退屈するかもしれません）。大半の展示の説明が日本語表記のため、海外からの観光客にはあまり向かないと感じました。
旧居は靴を脱がない土間であれば立ち入ることが出来ますが、座敷に上がることは出来ないようになっています（イベント等が開催されると異なるかもしれません）。旧居は、大阪で生を受けたものの父親の急逝を機に中津に戻った際の家ではなく、その後移り住んだ家がそのまま移築されたものだそうです。それでも、当時の茅葺屋根の家屋の面影を垣間見ることが出来ます。

This facility consists of the former residence of Yukichi Fukuzawa, an educator who laid the foundations of modern education in Japan, along with a memorial museum that displays his personal belongings and historical materials related to his life and work.
The museum's exhibition area is arranged over two floors, and an elevator is installed, making the facility easily accessible for wheelchair users and visitors with mobility impairments. A large number of Fukuzawa's books and personal letters are on display, allowing visitors to trace not only his achievements in earlier years but also to see that he remained deeply committed to education even in his later life. This dedication is also evident in the photographs exhibited. There is a small corner with mini quizzes, which may make the museum enjoyable for children as well. However, since most of the exhibits consist of documents such as letters and books, younger children may find the experience somewhat monotonous.
Most of the explanatory text for the exhibits is written only in Japanese, so the museum may be less suitable for international visitors who do not read Japanese.
As for the former residence, visitors are allowed to enter the earthen-floor area without removing their shoes, but access to the tatami rooms is not permitted (this may differ during special events). The house is not the one Fukuzawa lived in when he returned to Nakatsu after his father's sudden death, but rather a later residence that was relocated and preserved here. Even so, it offers a valuable glimpse of a traditional thatched-roof house from that period.