Chido Museum is a museum in Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture, dedicated to introducing the history and culture of the Shonai region. The museum occupies an extensive site that was once part of the third bailey of Tsurugaoka Castle, where the Sakai family, lords of the former Shonai Domain, maintained their official residence.
The grounds bring together historic buildings, traditional gardens, and valuable cultural properties. The museum’s name comes from Chidokan, the former domain school of the Shonai Domain. Its collections include objects and educational materials once used at the school, as well as a wide variety of materials documenting local life, industries, customs, and folk culture.
Several important historic structures have been relocated to the museum grounds, including the Former Nishitagawa County Government Office, the Former Tsuruoka Police Station, and the Former Shibuya Family Residence, all designated Important Cultural Properties of Japan. The Sakai Family Garden, a traditional shoin-style garden facing the Goinden, is also designated a Place of Scenic Beauty and creates a beautiful setting where architecture and landscape can be appreciated together.
The site of Chido Museum was once the third bailey of Tsurugaoka Castle, the administrative center of the former Shonai Domain. The area originally contained the official residence of the Sakai family, and traces of its history can still be experienced through the surviving buildings and garden.
Tadayoshi Sakai, head of the former ruling Sakai family, owned the land, buildings, and cultural properties. In 1950, the Sakai family donated the land, buildings, and cultural materials to the city. This led to the establishment of the Ibumon-kai Foundation, and in 1952 the site opened as the Chido Museum operated by the foundation.
The organization was renamed the Chido Museum Foundation in 1957 and became a public interest incorporated foundation in fiscal year 2012. Since fiscal year 2013, it has also been responsible for managing Chidokan, the former school of the Shonai Domain.
Goinden was created in 1863, when part of a Sakai family residence in Yanagihara and Shitaya in Edo, present-day Tokyo, was dismantled and relocated to the official residence within the third bailey of Tsurugaoka Castle. It served as the retirement residence of Tadaoki Sakai, a former lord of the Shonai Domain who had returned to his home region after retiring.
During the relocation, the building’s timber, roof tiles, and other materials were transported from Edo to Sakata by the western shipping route around the coast of Japan. They were then carried to Tsuruoka by riverboat. The story provides an interesting glimpse into the transportation networks that connected Edo with the Shonai region in the 19th century.
Today, parts of the original building remain, including the entrance and the rear reception room known as Kanshodo. From Kanshodo, visitors can look out over the Sakai Family Garden and appreciate the historic architecture and landscape together.
Exhibits inside include materials depicting life in the castle town of Tsurugaoka during the Edo period, objects related to the region’s traditional rock fishing, arms and furnishings handed down by the Sakai family, and calligraphy and paintings by successive domain lords.
The tea room Sanyoshitsu, connected to Kanshodo, was once the hermitage of Kan Jishu, also known as Gagyu, who played an important role in the development of the Matsugaoka reclamation project.
The Sakai Family Garden is a traditional pond-and-hill garden located north of Goinden. It is designated as a Place of Scenic Beauty by the Japanese government and is regarded as an especially valuable example of a traditional shoin-style garden in the Tohoku region.
The garden is centered around a pond with carefully arranged artificial hills. A prominent stone positioned on the front slope of the central hill serves as a focal point. On the left side is a dry waterfall arrangement, with surrounding stones creating a landscape reminiscent of a mountain gorge.
On the right side, a peninsula incorporates a distinctive silicified wood stone shaped like the head of a turtle. The arrangement creates the impression of a quiet inlet extending into the garden. It is also said that Mount Chokai was once incorporated as a distant borrowed landscape beyond the hills of the garden.
The Former Nishitagawa County Government Office was completed in 1881. This two-story wooden building is an example of giyofu architecture, a style that combined Western architectural features with traditional Japanese construction. It was built by master carpenters including Kanekichi Takahashi and Takejiro Ishii, and was relocated and restored at its present site in 1972. It is now designated an Important Cultural Property of Japan.
The building features a prominent central entrance with a balcony above it, together with a tower and clock at the center. Its total height is approximately 20 meters. Renaissance influences can be seen in details such as the bases of the entrance columns and the hanging staircase, while traditional Japanese elements remain visible in the roof and gable decorations.
The building was constructed in what is now Baba-machi, Tsuruoka, under the orders of Michitsune Mishima, who became Yamagata Prefecture’s first prefect in 1878. It became one of the representative buildings of early Meiji-era Yamagata and was even used as accommodation during Emperor Meiji’s journey through the Tohoku region.
It was designated an Important Cultural Property in December 1969. Because preserving it at its original location became difficult, it was dismantled, relocated, and restored at Chido Museum between 1970 and 1972.
The building is now used as an exhibition space. The first floor introduces archaeological materials and historical materials related to the Boshin War and Saigo Takamori, while the second floor focuses on aspects of culture during the Meiji period.
The Former Nishitagawa County Government Office Tower Clock was installed in the building’s tower when construction was completed in 1881. Around 1885, it was transferred to Jonenji Temple, where it remained in the temple’s possession.
The clock was made by Ichibei Kaneda, a clock dealer and technician. Because the maker’s name and year of manufacture are inscribed on the mechanism, it is regarded as one of the early tower clocks manufactured in Japan.
The Former Tsuruoka Police Station is a two-story wooden building designed by Kanekichi Takahashi and constructed in 1884. It was relocated to the museum grounds in 1957 and designated an Important Cultural Property of Japan in 2009.
It is one of Yamagata’s representative examples of early Meiji-era giyofu architecture. Renaissance influences can be seen around the exterior windows, while traditional Japanese details remain in the main roof ridge and decorative gable elements. The building’s impressive irimoya-style roof further demonstrates the combination of Western and traditional Japanese architectural ideas.
The building was reportedly constructed under the direction of Michitsune Mishima as a symbol of the authority of the new Meiji government. From 2013 to 2017, it underwent extensive dismantling and restoration work, allowing visitors today to appreciate its historic appearance.
The Former Shibuya Family Residence was relocated from Tagamimata, a village at the foot of Mount Yudono, one of the Three Mountains of Dewa. Tagamimata is one of the snowiest areas in Yamagata, and the house is a distinctive example of the multi-level farmhouses once developed to adapt to the region’s severe winter climate and limited mountain land.
The house has a three-story appearance under a single hipped, thatched roof. Because of the heavy snowfall and restricted space in the mountain valley, living and working areas were arranged vertically across three levels, and in some parts as many as four levels.
Sericulture became an important industry from the Meiji period onward. The second and third floors, as well as attic spaces, were used as work areas and storage rooms. High windows were installed to provide ventilation and natural light, contributing to both the practicality and distinctive appearance of the building.
The house was originally built in 1822 and relocated to its present location in 1965. It is now designated an Important Cultural Property of Japan.
From around January through March each year, a traditional practice known as hitataki, or fire smoking, is carried out at the Former Shibuya Family Residence to help protect and preserve its thatched roof.
A fire is lit in the traditional hearth, and the resulting smoke is allowed to fill the house. This helps protect the thatching from insects and contributes to the long-term preservation of the historic structure. The practice provides a fascinating glimpse into traditional methods of maintaining Japanese thatched houses.
The Folk Implements Storehouse is a two-story earthen storehouse built in the late Edo period. It was originally used to store weapons, furnishings, and other possessions belonging to the domain lord. After the museum opened, it was repurposed as an exhibition space for folk materials from the Shonai region.
The first floor focuses mainly on materials related to maritime transportation on the Sea of Japan and commerce. The second floor displays examples of traditional local crafts, including clay figures made from roof tiles and objects created using black persimmon wood.
Chido Museum houses an extensive collection of folk materials documenting everyday life, industries, religious traditions, and cultural practices in the Shonai region. Its designated Important Tangible Folk Cultural Properties include a wide variety of objects related to agriculture, fishing, clothing, food, housing, and traditional crafts.
Among the highlights are 810 fishing implements from the Mogami River system, 1,937 fishing implements from the Shonai coast and Tobishima Island, and 1,800 rice-farming implements from Shonai. Together, these collections illustrate the close relationship between the region’s natural environment and the lives of its people.
Other collections include the Shonai and Surrounding Areas Carving Collection, the Shonai Bandori Collection, the Shonai Work Clothing Collection, the Shonai Wooden Sake Vessel Collection, and the Daihoji-yaki ceramic collection.
The Matsugaoka Reclamation Site is located in Matsugaoka, Haguro-machi, Tsuruoka. In the early Meiji period, former samurai of the Shonai Domain worked together to develop and cultivate the land.
Reclamation began in 1870 and progressed on a larger scale from 1872. Several large silkworm-rearing buildings constructed during the early Meiji period remain, preserving the history of land development and sericulture in the area.
In 1993, five of the original ten large silkworm-rearing buildings remained, four of which were open to the public. The site was designated a Historic Site of Japan in 1989.
Today, the Chido Museum Foundation operates the Matsugaoka Reclamation Memorial Hall, Shonai Agricultural Tools Museum, and Rice-Farming Implements Storage Facility at the site.
Chido Museum houses a remarkable collection of historical materials associated with the Shonai Domain and the Sakai family, including National Treasures, Important Cultural Properties, and other valuable cultural assets. The collection covers many aspects of regional history, from swords and armor to historic buildings, gardens, and folk materials.
Tachi Sword, signed “Nobufusa Saku”
Tachi Sword, signed “Masamitsu”
Former Nishitagawa County Government Office
Former Tsuruoka Police Station
Former Shibuya Family Residence
Zen Temple Plaque Inscription “Choon-do”
Various-Colored Laced Domaru Armor with Helmet, Face Guard, Large Shoulder Guards, and Gauntlets, formerly used by Sakai Tadatsugu
Tanto Short Sword, signed “Yoshimitsu” (Shinano Toshiro)
Sakai Family Garden
Fishing Implements from the Mogami River System: 810 items
Shonai and Surrounding Areas Carving Collection: 229 items, plus 21 associated tools
Shonai Bandori Collection: 116 items
Shonai Work Clothing Collection: 126 items
Shonai Rice-Farming Implements: 1,800 items
Shonai Wooden Sake Vessel Collection: 77 items
Fishing Implements from the Shonai Coast and Tobishima Island: 1,937 items
Daihoji-yaki Ceramic Collection: 234 items
One of the greatest attractions of Chido Museum is that visitors do not simply move from one exhibition room to another. Instead, they can walk through the extensive grounds and encounter a former domain residence, an Edo-period garden, Meiji-era Western-style buildings, a traditional farmhouse from a snowy mountain region, and an earthen storehouse.
Because these buildings and collections are gathered on the historic site of the third bailey of Tsurugaoka Castle, visitors can gain a more complete understanding of Shonai’s political history, culture, industries, traditional lifestyles, and relationship with the natural environment.
The museum is particularly appealing to travelers interested in Japanese history, traditional architecture, gardens, samurai culture, folk traditions, and historic ways of life. Walking through the grounds offers a chance to experience several different periods of Japanese history in one location.
Chido Museum has also been featured in the Michelin Green Guide Japan with a one-star rating, further highlighting its importance as one of Tsuruoka’s notable historical and cultural destinations.