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The main hall (''honkan'') of the museum was originally built in [[1865]] in accordance with the dying wishes of former ''daimyô'' [[Shimazu Nariakira]] (d. [[1858]]) as one of a group of factories, dubbed the Shûseikan by Nariakira in [[1857]]/8,<ref>Ishin Shiryô Kôyô 維新史料綱要, vol 2 (1937), 405.</ref> and is today considered the oldest Western-style stone factory building in Japan.<ref name=plaques>Plaques on-site.</ref> The structure looks largely Western from the outside, but its interior architectural features incorporate much of traditional Japanese techniques, having been designed and constructed by Japanese builders based largely upon Western written and visual materials. At its peak, the factory employed over two thousand workers.<ref>[[Luke Roberts]], ''Mercantilism in a Japanese Domain: The Merchant Origins of Economic Nationalism in 18th-Century Tosa'', Cambridge University Press (1998), 202.</ref> The complex originally also included reverberating furnaces, blast furnaces, a smithy, a foundry, and a glass workshop, producing steel, large and small arms, gunpowder, various chemicals, [[Satsuma kiriko|glass]], [[Satsuma wares|ceramics]], porcelains, paper, petroleum products, and Western-style textiles;<ref>''Honjin ni tomatta daimyô tachi'', Toyohashi, Aichi: Futagawa-juku honjin shiryôkan (1996), 32.</ref> much of the compound was destroyed in fires in the [[1877]] [[Satsuma Rebellion]], but the remains of some of these structures are still visible today.
The main hall (''honkan'') of the museum was originally built in [[1865]] in accordance with the dying wishes of former ''daimyô'' [[Shimazu Nariakira]] (d. [[1858]]) as one of a group of factories, dubbed the Shûseikan by Nariakira in [[1857]]/8,<ref>Ishin Shiryô Kôyô 維新史料綱要, vol 2 (1937), 405.</ref> and is today considered the oldest Western-style stone factory building in Japan.<ref name=plaques>Plaques on-site.</ref> The structure looks largely Western from the outside, but its interior architectural features incorporate much of traditional Japanese techniques, having been designed and constructed by Japanese builders based largely upon Western written and visual materials. At its peak, the factory employed over two thousand workers.<ref>[[Luke Roberts]], ''Mercantilism in a Japanese Domain: The Merchant Origins of Economic Nationalism in 18th-Century Tosa'', Cambridge University Press (1998), 202.</ref> The complex originally also included reverberating furnaces, blast furnaces, a smithy, a foundry, and a glass workshop, producing steel, large and small arms, gunpowder, various chemicals, [[Satsuma kiriko|glass]], [[Satsuma wares|ceramics]], porcelains, paper, petroleum products, and Western-style textiles;<ref>''Honjin ni tomatta daimyô tachi'', Toyohashi, Aichi: Futagawa-juku honjin shiryôkan (1996), 32.</ref> much of the compound was destroyed in fires in the [[1877]] [[Satsuma Rebellion]], but the remains of some of these structures are still visible today.
The reverberatory furnace, completed in [[1857]] based on a combination of Western and Japanese technology, was over 20 meters tall; it was used primarily to produce cannon. In [[1892]], Shimazu Tadayoshi had an additional factory structure built; known as the Shûseijo, it was a site for producing pottery, rifles, swords, and mining equipment.
The main building was established as a museum in 1923, and as an [[Important Cultural Property]] in 1962. In 2015, it was named a [[World Heritage Site]]. The [[Bakumatsu period]] industrial history of the area is a particularly prominent theme of the museum, but its collections, roughly 10,000 items in total, also include many objects from the Shimazu family collections, as well as examples of traditional ceramics and objects related to the [[1863]] [[Anglo-Satsuma War]] (also known as the Bombardment of Kagoshima). The second building, or annex, was built following archaeological excavations begun in 1987 which uncovered some of the remains of a foundry previously located on that site. The annex, built to resemble the foundry, houses small rotating exhibits of artifacts, as well as administrative offices.<ref name=plaques/>
The main building was established as a museum in 1923, and as an [[Important Cultural Property]] in 1962. In 2015, it was named a [[World Heritage Site]]. The [[Bakumatsu period]] industrial history of the area is a particularly prominent theme of the museum, but its collections, roughly 10,000 items in total, also include many objects from the Shimazu family collections, as well as examples of traditional ceramics and objects related to the [[1863]] [[Anglo-Satsuma War]] (also known as the Bombardment of Kagoshima). The second building, or annex, was built following archaeological excavations begun in 1987 which uncovered some of the remains of a foundry previously located on that site. The annex, built to resemble the foundry, houses small rotating exhibits of artifacts, as well as administrative offices.<ref name=plaques/>
*Pamphlet available on-site.
*Pamphlet available on-site.
*[http://www.shuseikan.jp/eng/index.html Shoko Shuseikan official website] (English)
*[http://www.shuseikan.jp/eng/index.html Shoko Shuseikan official website] (English)
*Explanatory plaques on-site at Sengan'en.
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