Judo Hall

Once having tatami mats covering its entire surface, this is where they practiced a variety of martial arts, including jūjutsu, yawarajutsu (a kind of grappling technique), koshi-no-mawari (a technique of subduing an enemy with wakizashi or koshigatana short swords), and torite (a technique of subduing an armed enemy with bare hands).
In 1868, this place was converted to a firearm and ammunition factory in preparation for the Boshin civil war.
The 8th domain lord Sanada Yukitsura was passionately fond of jūjutsu and was a practitioner of the kitō school of jūjutsu himself. As the Tokugawa shogunate drew near to its end, however, jūjutsu lost its popularity due to the domain’s policy to promote gunnery.