From the Meiji period to the Taisho period, Ishimitsu Makiyo lived a turbulent life while he was charged with espionage and secret information gathering on Russia in an East Asia rife with upheaval.
His autobiographical notes were compiled and published by his bereaved family after his death as a four-part work*, which included "Joka no Hito" (A Man from a Castle Town). His works are highly regarded for conveying the state of modern Japan and East Asia at that time. In 1959, he was awarded the Mainichi Publishing Culture Award (in Humanities and Social Sciences), and, in 1994, he was awarded the Kumamoto Prefecture Modern Cultural Merit Award.
“Joka no Hito” is a record of the first 16 years of Makiyo’s life that he spent in this residence until he moved to Tokyo. Although the home has been renovated since then, it still retains the original atmosphere of that time. The house has been empty since 1997, but, thanks to overwhelming support from the locals, the building was restored again in 2014. Currently, there are panels on display that share information about Makiyo’s life inside the former residence.