Ryokan Shiroiso was built on February 20, 1937, as the private residence of Densaburo Akasaki.
It was constructed at a total cost of 25,000 yen, which was a considerable sum considering that the starting salary for an elementary school teacher in the early Showa period was around 50 yen, making it quite a luxurious mansion.
I would like to explore what kind of person Densaburo Akasaki was.
The life of Densaburo Akasaki
Denzaburo Akasaki was born in September 1871 in a farming family in Sarayama, Takahama Village.
The Akasaki family’s ancestors served as the head of the Ooe group in the early Edo period. However, by the time Denzaburo Akasaki was born in the Meiji era, the Akasaki family was heavily in debt, and after finishing elementary school, Denzaburo worked in the local pottery industry to help his parents.
At the age of 18, because the earnings from working in Amakusa were meager, Denzaburo went to Nagasaki to work as a cook. At the age of 19, he went abroad for the first time, wandering through Shanghai, Hong Kong, Saigon, Bombay, Zanzibar, and other places as a migrant worker.
At the age of 33, in his final destination of French Madagascar, Denzaburo Akasaki started Hotel Japon and also managed restaurants and movie theaters, achieving great success.
Eventually, when the Russo-Japanese War broke out and the Russian Baltic Fleet called at Madagascar, Denzaburo Akasaki thoroughly investigated the size and military strength of the Russian forces and telegraphed the information to the Japanese consulate in India. As a result, the Japanese army was able to intercept the Baltic Fleet and achieve victory.
In 1929, Denzaburo Akasaki handed over his business to a British man and returned to Japan. This was 40 years after he had gone abroad.
Then, on February 20, 1937, he built a magnificent mansion with both Japanese and Western-style buildings on the current site in his hometown of Takahama.
On May 5, 1943, he had a commemorative photo taken with director Keisuke Kinoshita and the cast and crew of the Shochiku film “Hanasaku Minato” (The Blooming Port), who were staying at the Akasaki residence.
He passed away on April 23, 1945, at the age of 75. He had a turbulent life, even going to Africa to work in order to support his parents.
Akasaki Denzaburo’s bedroom was only a three-tatami mat room, and no matter how successful and wealthy he became, he never forgot his boyhood days when he struggled alongside his parents.
In May 1950, the Shiroiso Hotel (formerly the Akasaki residence) opened. It was managed by the owner, Akasaki Yasohachi.
Currently, the Shiroiso Inn, along with the former Ueda family residence located nearby, is preserved as one of the valuable nationally registered tangible cultural properties in Amakusa City. → “Association for the Preservation of Shiroiso Inn“