Thank you for visiting the homepage of the Jyu-kanbo National Museum today.
Our museum is a National Museum established by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.
The building was called “special hospital ward” from 1938 through 1947. However, it was actually used for incarceration and punishment of Hansen’s disease patients. Those suspected of committing a crime were not given an official trial and were locked instead in small, dark prison-like rooms.
The Mission of our Museum is to make widely known the real purpose of this “special hospital ward” which was to symbolize the state policy of isolation of Hansen’s disease patients and thus, to lead to distortion of the historical truth and a negative impact on the national historical narrative.
In the museum, there are showcases with documents and objects excavated on the “special hospital ward” site during recent archaeological work. There is also a corner displaying the structure of the “special hospital ward” and its interior, where the Museum visitors can learn the real life story of the Hansen’s disease patients imprisoned there, and look into the harsh living conditions they had to endure.
You have visited our Museum homepage today, and we are deeply grateful for your interest.
We hope to welcome you soon at our Museum and shall be honoured to guide you through one of the most heart-breaking and least known chapters of the Japanese history.
We, the staff of the Jyu-kanbo Museum, are wholeheartedly waiting for your visit!