Yoshida Shōin was born in 1830 as the second son of Sugi Yurinosuke, member of the Hagi clan, in a scenic area on the outskirts of Hagi known as “Dangoiwa.” Shōin’s real name was Norikata, but he used the alias “Torajiro.”

Today, we can see the flagstone of the house and the well whose water was used for the first bathing of the newborn Shōin. A bronze statue of this intellectual leader of the modernization of Japan stands on a hill to the east of the house.