Edo-Tokyo Museum

Edo-Tokyo Museum
江戸東京博物館
Entrance of the Museum
Map
Established1993; 31 years ago (1993)
Location1-4-1 Yokoami, Sumida, Tokyo, Japan
Visitors1,876,205 (2015)[1]
Websitewww.edo-tokyo-museum.or.jp/en/
1/30 scale architectural model of the Kamiyashiki of Matsudaira Tadamasa

The Edo-Tokyo Museum (江戸東京博物館, Edo Tōkyō Hakubutsukan) is a historical museum located at 1-4-1 Yokoami, Sumida-Ku, Tokyo in the Ryogoku district.[2] The museum opened in March 1993 to preserve Edo's cultural heritage, and features city models of Edo and Tokyo between 1590 (just prior to the Edo period beginning) and 1964.[3] It was the first museum built dedicated to the history of Tokyo.[4] Some main features of the permanent exhibitions are the life-size replica of the Nihonbashi, which was the bridge leading into Edo; scale models of towns and buildings across the Edo Meiji, and Showa periods; and the Nakamuraza theatre.[5]

Designed by Kiyonori Kikutake, the building is 62.2 meters tall and covers 30,000 square meters.[3][6] The concrete exterior is designed based on a traditional rice storehouse (takayuka-shiki style) and is the same height as the Edo Castle.[7][8][9] Kikutake claimed that the building "crystallizes Japanese culture in built form," concerning the structure's traditional references but contemporary execution.[10] There are eight floors, one below ground and seven elevated off the ground by four columns, with an open air plaza at ground level.[3] The first floor has a museum shop, restaurants, and a ticket counter. The primary entrance is on the third floor, reached by a bright red escalator from the plaza. The fifth and sixth floors contain permanent exhibits, with temporary special and feature exhibits on the first and fifth floors.[11] The seventh floor is a library that houses 560,000 texts and cultural items related to Edo and Tokyo.[3]

The museum opened thirteen years after the Shitamachi Museum and six years after the Fukagawa Edo Museum, all part of a national trend for building local history museums. The exhibits for all three were primarily designed by Total Media.[12]

Formerly owned and operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the Edo-Tokyo Museum is accented by the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum across the city in Koganei Park.[13][14] The Edo-Tokyo Museum is now operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture.[3]

The museum was closed for renovation in April 2022 and is expected to be reopened by the end of 2025.[15]

  1. ^ "17-12 (4): TOKYO METROPOLITAN EDO-TOKYO MUSEUM (Fiscal Years 2011～2015)". Tokyo Statistical Yearbook 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  2. ^ MUSEUM, EDO-TOKYO. "EDO-TOKYO MUSEUM". EDO-TOKYO MUSEUM (in Japanese). Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d e Tateishi, Momoko (2013). "The Edo-Tokyo Museum Library". Art Libraries Journal. 38 (2): 22. doi:10.1017/S0307472200017995. S2CID 163519769.
  4. ^ Sand, Jordan (2013). Tokyo Vernacular: Common Spaces, Local Histories, Found Objects. University of California Press. pp. 127–128. ISBN 978-0-520-27566-9.
  5. ^ MUSEUM, EDO-TOKYO. "Permanent Exhibition". EDO-TOKYO MUSEUM (in Japanese). Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  6. ^ Steele, M. William (2001). "The Edo-Tokyo Museum". Journal of Urban History. 27: 533–536 – via ProQuest.
  7. ^ "Edo Tokyo Museum". Into Japan. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  8. ^ Lutfy, Carol (22 August 1993). "Mixing history and high-tech". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  9. ^ Cheapo, Tokyo. "Tokyo Architecture: The 9 Best Buildings in the Capital | Tokyo Cheapo". tokyocheapo.com/. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  10. ^ Sand, Jordan (2010). "Monumentalizing the Everyday: The Edo-Tokyo Museum". Critical Asian Studies. 33 (3): 359–363. doi:10.1080/14672710121867. S2CID 143704380.
  11. ^ MUSEUM, EDO-TOKYO. "Information". EDO-TOKYO MUSEUM (in Japanese). Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  12. ^ Jordan Sand, Jordan, Tokyo Vernacular: Common Spaces, Local Histories, Found Objects, University of California Press, 2013, ISBN 0520275667, p. 120
  13. ^ Cybriwsky, Roman (2011). Historical Dictionary of Tokyo. Lanham, Toronto, Plymouth: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. p. 67.
  14. ^ "A Walk Through Japan's Historic Architecture". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  15. ^ 江戸東京博物館. "2022年度 休館中の江戸東京博物館の活動について Activities of the Edo-Tokyo Museum during FY2022 when the museum is closed". 江戸東京博物館 (in Japanese). Retrieved 13 November 2022.