is a prison in

Abashiri is a city located in Okhotsk Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. Abashiri is known as the site of the Abashiri Prison, a Meiji-era facility used for the incarceration of political prisoners. The old prison has been turned into a museum, but the city ...

Hokkaido Prefecture is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

that opened in 1890. The northernmost prison in Japan, it is located near the

Abashiri River is a river in Hokkaidō, Japan. History Around 1000 years ago, the Okhotsk culture settled the river basin and moved inland. Remains from the Jōmon period have been found on the bottom of Lake Abashiri. Course The Abashiri River rises in Tsu ...

and east of

Mount Tento is a nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty in Abashiri, Hokkaido, Japan. Rising to a height of 207 metres, the mountain commands views over the Sea of Okhotsk, Lake Abashiri, Lake Notoro, Lake Tōfutsu, and, from afar, the Shiretoko Peni ...

. It holds inmates with sentences of less than ten years. Older parts of the prison were relocated to the base of

in 1983, where they operate as the country's only prison museum.

History

In April 1890, the

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji o ...

sent over a thousand political prisoners to the isolated Abashiri village and forced them to build roads linking it to the more populous south. Initial conditions were extremely harsh, with insufficient food and rest, and over 200 prisoners died of malnutrition, accidents and as punishment for attempting to escape. Abashiri Prison later became known for being a self-sufficient farming prison, and was cited as a model for others throughout Japan. Most of the prison burned down in a 1909 fire, but it was reconstructed in 1912. Previously known as , it took on its current name in 1922. In 1984, the prison moved to a modern reinforced concrete complex. Due to the 1965 film ''

Abashiri Prison is a prison in Abashiri, Hokkaido Prefecture that opened in 1890. The northernmost prison in Japan, it is located near the Abashiri River and east of Mount Tento. It holds inmates with sentences of less than ten years. Older parts of the prison ...

'' and its sequels, the prison became a popular tourist attraction. The prison is also known for its wooden dolls carved by its inmates.

Museum

In 1983, older parts of the prison were relocated to the base of Mount Tento and operate as a museum called the . It is the only prison museum in the country. As of 2016, eight of the buildings preserved at the museum are designated Important Cultural Property by the

Agency for Cultural Affairs The is a special body of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). It was set up in 1968 to promote Japanese arts and culture. The agency's budget for FY 2018 rose to ¥107.7 billion. Overview The ag ...

, while three are registered Tangible Cultural Property.

Notable inmates

Tsuda Sanzō was a Japanese policeman who in 1891 attempted to assassinate the Tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich of Russia (later Emperor Nicholas II), in what became known as the Ōtsu incident. He was convicted for attempted murder and sentenced to life imp ...

, the policeman who attempted to assassinate

Nicholas II of Russia Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pola ...

Yoshie Shiratori was a Japanese national born in Aomori Prefecture. Shiratori is famous for having escaped from prison four different times, making him an anti-hero in Japanese culture. There is a memorial to Shiratori at the Abashiri Prison Museum. There ar ...

, the only person to escape from Abashiri Prison *

Kyuichi Tokuda was a Japanese politician and first chairman of the Japanese Communist Party from 1945 until his death in 1953. Biography Kyuichi Tokuda was born in 1894 in Okinawa and became a lawyer following graduation from Nihon University in 1920. He joi ...

, politician imprisoned at Abashiri from 1934–1940 * Kenji Miyamoto, politician * Branko Vukelić, Yugoslav spy *

Shūsuke Nomura Shūsuke Nomura (, 14 February 1935 – 20 October 1993) was a Japanese ethnic nationalist activist. He is best remembered for his suicide in the offices of the newspaper ''Asahi Shimbun''. Life and career In 1963 Nomura burned down the ...

, activist *

George Abe , known by his pen name , was a Japanese author and former yakuza. Outside Japan he is best known for writing the manga series '' Rainbow: Nisha Rokubō no Shichinin'' in collaboration with artist Masasumi Kakizaki. As a teenager Abe became a me ...

, author and former yakuza *Kōzō Minō, former yakuza whose memoirs were turned into the ''

Battles Without Honor and Humanity , also known in the West as ''The Yakuza Papers'', is a Japanese yakuza film series produced by Toei Company. Inspired by a series of magazine articles by journalist Kōichi Iiboshi that are based on memoirs originally written by real-life yaku ...

'' film series *Hajime Itō, author of the novel ''Abashiri Bangaichi'', which was adapted into two films, the second of which spawned the ''Abashiri Prison'' film series

In fiction

The 1965 film ''

'' spawned a popular series of yakuza films featuring the prison. In the 2012

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

Yakuza 5 is an action-adventure video game developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and published by Sega for the PlayStation 3. The game is the fifth main entry in the ''Yakuza'' series. The game was released in December 2012 in Japan, and localized for North ...

'', one of the protagonists, Taiga Saejima, escapes from Abashiri Prison, making his way to a village deep in the mountains of Hokkaido. In "

Mako Tanida "Mako Tanida" is the sixteenth episode of the first season of the American crime drama ''The Blacklist''. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on March 17, 2014. Plot Osaka-based Yakuza crime boss and gangster Mako Tanida ( Hoon Lee ...

", a 2014 episode of the television series ''

The Blacklist ''The Blacklist'' is an American crime thriller television series that premiered on NBC on September 23, 2013. The show follows Raymond "Red" Reddington (James Spader), a former U.S. Navy officer turned high-profile criminal who voluntarily sur ...

'', the episode's titular yakuza boss escapes from Abashiri Prison. The 2014

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series ''

Golden Kamuy is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Satoru Noda (artist), Satoru Noda. It was serialized in Shueisha's Seinen manga, manga magazine ''Weekly Young Jump'' from August 2014 to April 2022, with its chapters collected in thirt ...

'', set shortly after the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

, features a raid on Abashiri Prison as one of its major plot points. In the 2020 novel The Lost Future of Pepperharrow by Natasha Pulley, set in 1888 Japan, Abashiri Prison is one of the main plot locations.

References

External links

Abashiri Prison Museum official website
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Hokkaido Prisons in Japan Important Cultural Properties of Japan Museums in Hokkaido Prison museums in Asia Relocated buildings and structures Abashiri, Hokkaido