Xu Fu Memorial Hall

Xu Fu Memorial Hall

Xu Fu Memorial Hall

A street in Sanbei Town is not a bustling downtown area, yet it holds a dream from over two thousand years ago. Visitors who come down from Dapeng Mountain to explore ancient relics often take a detour to this street to continue their reminiscences and seek out Xu Fu’s old dreams.

This is a two-story building. Embedded in its bluish-gray wall is a piece of black granite inscribed with five gilded Chinese characters that read “Xu Fu Memorial Hall.” In front of the building is an open space planted with several cherry blossom trees. The owner of the house is a Japanese woman named Takashima Takako. She chose to build such a memorial hall at the foot of Dapeng Mountain to fulfill a long-cherished wish.

It is said that Xu Fu holds a supreme status in the hearts of the Japanese people. This is because many of Japan’s technologies—such as farming, sericulture, medicine, metallurgy, and even shipbuilding and navigation—were brought to Japan by Xu Fu from China. Xu Fu made outstanding contributions to the civilization and progress of ancient Japan, with the two connected places being Kyushu in Japan and Cixi in China. After years of painstaking research, Japanese scholars finally identified Cixi’s Dapeng Mountain as the successful departure point of Xu Fu’s voyage. Therefore, it was only natural to build a memorial hall at the foot of Dapeng Mountain to express their remembrance of Xu Fu.

Inside the memorial hall, many precious materials are on display. All kinds of research findings and documentation related to Xu Fu, as well as records of various seminars and field investigations, can be found here. Places that Xu Fu passed through during his eastward voyage, as documented in historical texts, have also been photographed and archived in the hall. Xu Fu researchers from around the world also use the memorial hall as a base for discussion and exchange. The collections of papers published in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and English have turned this small Xu Fu Memorial Hall into a hub for the study of Xu Fu culture.