Sakai City Museum
Sakai City Museum (堺市博物館 Sakai-shi Hakubutsukan) is located within Daisen Park, in Sakai-ku, Sakai City, in Osaka Prefecture. The museum was opened in 1980, to commemorate the 90th anniversary of Sakai’s municipalization. The museum is curated by Susumu Nakanishi (Emeritus Professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies).
The museum showcases Sakai’s history from ancient times to the present day, featuring artifacts excavated from the Mozu Kofungun tumulus cluster, goods and historical documents remaining from Sakai’s period of high trade as an autonomous city, and works by Sakai-born artists, including Sen-no-Rikyu, Yosano Akiko and Kawai Suimei. The museum attracted much attention when it first opened for its exhibit featuring a reenacted voice montage of historical figures with a connection to Sakai, such as Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and Sen-no-Rikyu.
The museum is located in Daisen Park, in the middle of the Mozu Kofungun, along with the Sakai Municipal Library, Sakai Bicycle Museum, Sakai City Japanese Gardens, Sakai City Urban Greenification Center.
Facilities
- Exhibition room 1 – Kofun and the Nintoku Tumulus
- Exhibition room 2 – Prosperous Sakai in the Middle Ages
- Exhibition room 3 – Sakai’s Culture and Industries
- Exhibition room 4 – Festivals and Prayer
- Shin’an tea house (Registered tangible cultural property)
- Ōbaian tea house (Registered tangible cultural property)
Main exhibits
- Sandalwood statue of Avalokitesvara (important cultural property) (Asuka period)
- Lacquered drum-shaped sake barrel (important cultural property) (1473)
- Replica of Emperor Nintoku’s sarcophagus
- Replica of Emperor Nintoku's armor
- Horse shaped Haniwa and Haniwa excavated from Emperor Nintoku’s tumulus
- Iron artifacts excavated from the Daizukayama tumulus
- Clay artifacts excavated from the Ryonan-akayama tumulus
- Old European map of Japan
- Model of “Sakai the free city”
- Sakai guns (matchlock guns)
Construction history
- Founded – 1980
- Completed – 1980
- Design – Nikken Sekkei
- Address – 2 Mozusekiun-cho, Sakai-ku, Sakai City 590-0802
Access
- 8-minute walk from Mozu Station on the JR Hanwa Line
External links
Coordinates: 34°33′31.9″N 135°29′3.3″E / 34.558861°N 135.484250°E