【Former Residence of Ito Hirobumi】
This is the former residence of Ito Hirobumi, Japan’s first prime minister. It is a small one-story house made of wood with a thatched roof. Ito moved here in 1854, where he spent about 13 years of his childhood. Nearby is Shokasonjuku, a private academy where Ito studied under Yoshida Shoin. Ito's former residence has been registered as a National Historic Site.

A nearly life-size statue of Ito Hirobumi made from Hagi yaki pottery stands next to the residence. There is also a villa next to the residence.

【Villa of Ito Hirobumi】
This villa was built in Tokyo by Ito in 1907. Construction was carried out by Meiji-era carpenters called miyadaiku who specialized in building and repairing shrines, temples, and other important cultural properties made of wood. The buildings in the Hagi villa were part of a larger villa in Tokyo that were relocated here. The Hagi villa consists of three buildings: an entrance building, a large hall, and a separate tatami room. It includes some must-see architectural details, including a single plank from a 1,000-year-old Yoshino cedar tree that is used for the ceiling of the corridor in the large hall, and the ceiling of the detached tatami room whose tree knots are purposely kept visible.

【About Ito Hirobumi】
Ito Hirobumi was born in 1841. He moved to Hagi as a child and studied under Yoshida Shoin at Shokasonjuku. In 1863, at the end of the Edo period, he was sent to London, England to study in secret as one of the “Choshu Five.” Upon his return to Japan, he held important positions in the new Meiji government. He studied the constitutions of various European countries in order to create the modern constitution of Japan. He became the first Prime Minister of Japan in 1885 and served as Prime Minister a total of four times.