After spending the night in Kawagoe, I took the train back to Shizuoka. Before going home, I stopped in Numazu and walked from the train station to the Imperial Villa, the former imperial summer residence. It was built by the Emperor Mejii in July 1893. His son, Crown Prince Yoshihito, the future Emperor Taisho, claimed this to be a favorite residence. The villa was a single-story wooden building with an area of 1200 square meters. It was later expanded, adding the east annex in 1903 and the west annex in 1905. The grounds covered 104,402 square meters, facing Suruga Bay, with views of Mt. Fuji. In 1969 the villa was turned over to the Numazu city government and opened to the public in 1970.
It was a gorgeous day and an interesting place to visit. This entrance is not currently used for the public.
The cost to tour the villa and grounds is 410 yen. This is the entrance to the villa.
Most of the rooms were labeled as to how they were used.
This room had a little movie.
I found the emperor's bath to be interesting!
The telephone is inside this little booth.
As you can see from the shoe holder, I was the only one visiting the villa. I did see a few people walking around the grounds.
I can just imagine how wonderful it was to spend the summer at this place.
This is the front gate from the inside.
I highly recommend visiting this place!
As I walked back to the train station, I could see the snow covered Mt. Fuji.
Wonderful place to visit, great patterns in the pathways.
ReplyDeleteThat was wonderful! I love all your trips - I feel like I just took a vacation!
ReplyDeleteWow! And how amazing that you were the only person touring the villa at the time. It looks really interesting, and the grounds are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThis is an old kitchen. Thanks for sharing us.
ReplyDeleteYou can see how the life style changed, they started putting carpets and western furniture on the tatami matted floors.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think it would have been wonderful to spend a vacation there!
What a fascinating place and beautiful grounds. I love how the windows bring in such lovely light and it seems very peaceful. What a good idea to stop and tour while you were out!
ReplyDeleteThis really looks like a wonderful place to spend the summer! However, what an interesting way to take a bath, covered in cloth. I wonder if there was some law that no servant could see the emperor naked?
ReplyDelete