The large stone building before you now serves as the Shoko Shuseikan Museum, displaying the history of the Shimazu family. However, the building itself is also part of the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site.
It was originally constructed in 1865 as a machinery factory for the Satsuma Domain. It's the oldest surviving Western-style factory building in Japan, built entirely by Japanese craftsmen.
You might expect this factory to be built of brick, but none were used here. Instead, it was constructed from welded tuff, a stone long used in Kagoshima. Rounded stonework at the base reflects shrine architecture, while the interior uses thick wooden beams typical of Japanese buildings. By blending Western industrial ideas with local craftsmanship through trial and error, this structure captures the very process of Japan’s early modernization, and was recognized as part of the UNESCO World Heritage “Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution.”
Inside, you can see original machinery once used in the factory, along with exhibitions explaining the Shimazu family’s history and modernization projects.