The home of the coal baron for Fukuoka and Chikuho
The coal baron of the Chikuho district, Denemon Ito, built the house during the Meiji Era (around 1900) which grew and changed along with the rise of its owner over the Taisho and early Showa eras. Ito had been raised in poor surroundings and he’d had a lifestyle as a fishmonger and boatman but later succeeded his father in the coal mine industry to eventually become the king of the coal mines.
The residence where he lived with his 2nd wife, Byakuren, the daughter of nobility, for 10 years
Ito, who had lost his first wife to illness, married again the next year to poet Byakuren Yanagihara, the beautiful 25-year-old daughter of a noble family who was exactly half the age of her new husband at the same that the house was undergoing major renovations and extensions. Beckoning carpenters specializing in temple and shrine construction from Kyoto, Ito had everything in the house from ceilings and walls to places that couldn’t be normally seen renovated to luxurious levels through the carpenters’ craftsmanship, so that the one-storied house took on a second floor with a living room just for Byakuren. With a total area of approximately 7600 square meters, a huge mansion of 25 rooms was created. A variety of artistic techniques were incorporated to create items such as an Art Nouveau mantelpiece, a parlor room with British-style diamond-shaped stained glass, and a long corridor covered in one tatami mat. The window panes were from Germany and there was even a flushable toilet, something that couldn’t be seen anywhere else during those days, so that visitors can catch a glimpse of an incredible life of prosperity back then. Also, the huge pond garden has been nationally designated as a Place of Scenic Beauty which can be viewed in all its glory from Byakuren’s room on the 2nd floor.
Old Denemon Ito House as it is today as a cultural heritage
The decade-long marriage to Byakuren ended due to Ito’s philandering among other reasons. The tumultuous relationship became the talk of the town as Byakuren confronted Ito with letters breaking off the marriage and running away. Afterwards, Ito continued to apply himself vigorously as an industrialist.