Kitano Ijinkan (Kitano Foreigners' Houses)

The history of the Kitano foreigners’ houses (Kitano Ijin-kan) began in 1868 when Kobe city opened its port to foreign countries. The whole Bluff, including the Yamamoto street in Kitano town, attracted the foreigners at an early time as the residential section with a fine view from the southern gentle slope. Though houses were constructed from the beginning of the Meiji era, it was not until in 1888 that the Bluff developed as the real foreigners’ residential area. A foreign architect who lived in Kobe at that time designed the standard western buildings to construct the foreigners’ houses, which creates the high level and the tasteful exoticism of those houses. Nowadays still remain about 30 foreigners’ houses, such as the weathercock house, the Moegi house (the former Sharp’s house), the Uroko house (the scaly-roofed house) and so on. The area of the Yamamoto St. in Kitano town is designated as the first preservation district for groups of the important historic buildings in the classification of the port town in 1980.

15 min. walk from Kitano-ijinkan bus stop (City Loop Bus)

TEL: 078-303-1010