Samurai House, Yagi Gennojo in Mibu, Kyoto

For more than 700 years, until the Meiji Ishin, the history of Japan was the history of the samurai. But surprisingly few samurai residencies survived until today and a very small number of them can be visited.

Among them, a valuable example is the house of Yagi Gennojo, located in the Mibu area of Kyoto, near the Mibu-dera. Preserved as it was at the end of the 19th century, this samurai house is valuable both for its architecture and for its historical past, because of the important and very tumultuous events that took place here between 1863 and 1865, when it was the headquarters of the Shinsengumi police force. Although a part of the house is still inhabited, several rooms and the garden are available for visits (but not for photography).

In today's photo you can see the residence's gate, built in 1804, proudly displaying the red Shinsengumi banner with the inscription 誠 makoto, meaning "sincerity", one of the seven virtues of the Bushido samurai code.