Numazu Imperial Villa, Imperial villa memorial park in Numazu, Japan.
Numazu Imperial Villa is a wooden residence with two preserved annexes situated within gardens that overlook Suruga Bay. The grounds offer views of Mount Fuji from its northern areas.
The villa was built in July 1893 in the Shimagō imperial forest for Crown Prince Yoshihito, later Emperor Taishō, as a rest retreat. It was expanded with an east annex in 1903 and a west annex in 1905. The main building burned down in the July 1945 Numazu air raid. The villa was abolished in December 1969 and opened as a memorial park in July 1970.
The West Annex was originally a villa of Count Kawamura Sumiyoshi before it was moved here; the East Annex came from the Akasaka Palace estate in Tokyo, where it served the crown prince's high steward. The East Annex's first study room now sometimes hosts official shogi title matches, including the Hikaru Cup Kisei tournament.
The park lies along National Route 414 on the Suruga Bay coast, next to the Senbon-Matsubara pine grove, and is known locally simply as the Goyotei. The surviving East and West Annexes stand among the pines and lawns; allow time to walk between them and down to the shore.
The East Annex's first study room has served as a venue for the Hikaru Cup Kisei title match, a major Japanese shogi championship. The grounds also drew attention after WWII: unexploded American bombs lodged in the sandy soil, and until the late 1970s teachers warned schoolchildren not to touch suspicious objects found nearby.
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