【OPEN】 9:00 ~ 18:00
A French European-style building exuding “Romanticism in Taisho Era”.
The Villa of Bansuiso was built in 1922 by Count Sadakoto Hisamatsu as his residence and guesthouse. Count Hisamatsu was born into the ruling family of Matsuyama Domain in 1867.
Count Hisamatsu graduated from Saint-Cyr army officer’s school in France, and later worked as a military attaché in Paris. He lived in France for total of fifteen years. Bansuiso, reflecting the count’s appreciation for French style building, was one of the best places for social gatherings of the various circles and celebrities at that time in Matsuyma. Royal family members were sure to stop over Bansuiso when they visited Matuyama. In addition, it is reported that the construction of the villa was rushed to be completed in time for the visit of Crown Prince and Regent Hirohito (later Emperor Showa) to Matsuyama.
Bansuiso has escaped the ravages of the World War II. As being the valuable building that preserves the state of the time of the construction very well, it became the Tangible Cultural Property designated by Ehime Prefecture in 1985 .
Thereafter, Bansuiso’s two buildings, namely the Main Building and the Administrative House (Gate Keeper’s House), were designated as a National Important Cultural Property in November of 2011.
Matsuyama Domain of the feudal age was located primarily in Onsen-gun (Onsen district) as well as in Kume-gun, Noma-gun and Iyo-gun. The government administration of the domain was placed at the Matsuyama Castle. Now the Province of Iyo is called Ehime Prefecture. The main part of Matsuyama Domain is Matsuyama city, which is the capital of Ehime Prefecture.
Count Sadakoto Hisamatsu, who built Bansuiso in 1922 as a villa for his family, was the nobility and a Japanese Army officer. Count Hisamatsu was the head of the Hisamatsu family, the heir to the lord of Matsuyama Domain. He held such prominent positions as the Chief of the 1st Infantry Brigade and that of the 5th Infantry Brigade and his rank reached the Army Lieutenant General, Syo-Nii (Senior Second Rank), the First Order of Merit and a Count. He also worked as a military attaché in France. His wife, Sadako, was the daughter of Duke Sadayoshi Shimazu (12th feudal lord of the Satsuma Domain).
Bansuiso is the oldest reinforced concrete building in Ehime Prefecture, the total area of which extends 887.58 suqure meters (9554 square feet) with three floors above the ground and one basement under the ground, Built with a grand and magnificently high style called neo-Renaissance, Bansuiso, reflecting the aesthetics of the imbalance favored by Japanese, has been constructed in the left-right asymmetry, while a great majority of western-style architecture remains symmetrical.
On top of the pillars of the driveway and the entrance hall of the front, we can see the ornaments derived from the Greek architecture called the Corinthian style. In addition, a copper plate is used at the top of the roof, while a natural slate roof is applied in a steep slope beneath it, exerting the Art Nouveau style, which has predominated in Europe in the early 20th century.
We can see the traces of ingenuity in many places, such as the old Japanese oval gold coins of Matsuyama Domain were once melted and were used at the tip of the lightning rod.