Southwest War Museum and Tabaruzaka Park (田原坂西南戦争資料館・田原坂公園) 熊本市田原坂西南戦争資料館
17 days of battle in 1877: the museum reconstructs them with video, sound and vibration.
The Southwest War (西南戦争, Seinan sensō) was the last civil war in Japan: begun in 1877, it lasted about seven months in four prefectures of Kyūshū, with about 50,000 men from Satsuma and 60,000 from the government, and about 14,000 dead. Tabaruzaka was its hardest battle: from 4 to 20 March 1877, seventeen days of fighting. The municipal museum, opened in its present form in November 2015, explains the background and the war with a hands-on section and with documents. In the park there are also the reconstructed ‘bullet-hole house’ (弾痕の家) and a memorial tower for the fallen (慰霊塔); the house, opposite the museum, holds materials on the Hakuai Society (博愛社), born from the battle and the forerunner of the Japanese Red Cross. The route of the battle, between Kumamoto and Gyokutō, was declared a National Historic Site (史跡, shiseki) in March 2013 under the name ‘Traces of the Southwest War’ (西南戦争遺跡). The park is known for its azaleas and cherry trees.
Kumamoto
Tabarazaka
