Southwest War Museum and Tabaruzaka Park

photo by STA3816 · CC BY-SA 4.0

photo by STA3816 · CC BY-SA 4.0

17 days of battle in 1877: the museum reconstructs them with video, sound and vibration.

The museum stands in Tabaruzaka Park, on the hill where in March 1877 government soldiers and those of Saigō Takamori, leader of the Satsuma rebellion, fought for seventeen days. The rooms reconstruct the clash with video, sound, vibration and dioramas, and show rifles and bullets that were really used. Opposite, a free annex, the reconstructed ‘bullet-hole house’, holds the materials on the early Japanese Red Cross.

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.

ℹ️ Museum open 9:00–17:00 (entry until 16:30); closed only from 29 December to 3 January. Ticket 300 yen from high school upwards, 100 for elementary and junior high school (240 and 80 for groups of 20). The ‘bullet-hole house’ annex is free, with the same hours. From the centre of Kumamoto it is about 17 km, 45 minutes by car; from the Ueki toll gate 8 km, 15 minutes. By train: JR Tabaruzaka Station (Kagoshima Line) and 30 minutes on foot, or Konoha Station and a 10-minute taxi; by Sankō bus, the 鈴麦 or 境木 stop and 30 minutes on foot. In practice, by car. Free car park with 220 spaces, also for coaches. The municipal page (updated 29/09/2026) gives the normal hours with no notices; the municipal list of 02/10/2026 shows it as open (‘Open 9AM-5PM(L.E.4:30PM)’).

🚉 Tabarazaka · 27 min walk

Sources: city.kumamoto.jp · kumamoto-guide.jp · kumamoto-guide.jp · kumamoto-guide.jp · ja.wikipedia.org

All series · Open the map