The Final Stretch of My Matsumoto Trip
Exploring Historic Buildings at Matsumoto City Historic Village
I made it safely down from the mountain and back into the city. Since I still had some time before my train home, I decided to visit Matsumoto City Historic Village.
Matsumoto City Historic Village is an open-air museum preserving valuable modern-era buildings that once stood in Matsumoto and Shimosuwa. It has a feel similar to the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum in Tokyo.
The main highlight is the Former Matsumoto District Court Building, which is designated an Important Cultural Property. It originally stood on the site of the Ninomaru Palace of Matsumoto Castle.
It was built in 1908 (Meiji 41). The courthouse has a distinctly Japanese architectural style, and inside you can peek into the courtroom exhibit. There was also a surreal simulation where you stand in court as the defendant and are sentenced to death for the crime of "killing your mother."
This is quite a disturbing museum, honestly (lol).
Next to it stands the Former Matsumoto Juvenile Prison Solitary Cells.
Combined with Matsumoto’s winter weather, it feels especially bleak…
The signs recommend the “solitary cell experience” in a light, poppy tone, but the actual content is pretty heavy.
This building was constructed in 1953 (Showa 28), and it seems the solitary cells were remodeled with tatami flooring in the 1970s.
At the very back is the Former Showa Industrial Silk Mill, which used to stand in Shimosuwa. Apparently it remained in operation until 1995 (Heisei 7).
You can watch a video showing the machinery when it was actually running. When water was heated in the boilers, steam spread throughout the entire building, and the sight of it rising made the whole structure seem almost alive, which I found fascinating.
And this is Horaiya, a lodging house for factory girls. It’s said that many young women on their way to silk mills in Suwa and Okaya stayed here.
I can’t help checking out the toilets.
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