Did you know there is a place where you closely can encounter Takachihos history?

Here we invite you to enter your private sphere and in your own pace do a small time travel, experiencing life in the past for humans and animals, culture, myths and legends as well as old and modern history – and yes, all this can be experienced in Takachiho Town Community Center!

Takachiho Town Community Center is a History and Folklore Museum located next to Takachiho General park, with a big free parking lot just outside. The kagura mural next to the entrance means you found the right building!

The museum consists of two floors filled with interesting items one would normally encounter in big city museum, an anime or a Japanese historical drama. In fact, the Community Center has actually been introduced in a book by author Yasuo Uchida in 1987.

★Click here for directions to Takachiho Community Center

It is open 9.00 – 17.00 (last entry at 16.30), Monday through Sunday, apart from end of year holidays and a few days during the rainy season every other year.

And guess what? The first floor is completely free to enter! And for just 200 yen you can visit the historical exhibition on the second floor.

※Second floor admission fee for elementary up to junior high school students is 100 yen. Any groups of 20 people or more get a 50 yen discount/person.

※Saturdays are free for elementary to high school students of Takachiho, just show you student ID!

Entering the building

When visiting a shrine, an office, a concert hall or a restaurant there is almost always a flow and a order to do things in. At the Community Center that order is really up to you.

While sometimes groups of school children visits the Community Center to learn about life in the past, most of the times upon entering you are meet by a big open space and tranquility. It feels a bit like entering a private sphere filled with interesting objects you can watch at you own pace.

On the first floor you will find the reception, where you can get a pamphlet and pay the admission to the second floor.

On the first floor you will find folk cultural object such as farmer tools, old lunchboxes, traditional hemp clothing, postcards, labels and minerals – well, the list just goes on!

Various joruri dolls, instruments and literature are also on display.

This is not your everyday TV corner. The TV is used to watch the on-site archive of history, programs featuring Takachiho, traditional arts and so on. Next to it however, the curator on site has displayed his private collection of the manga “Oshi-no-Ko”, making it a special corner for the fans of the “Oshi-no-Ko”-manga, which do includes scenes from Takachiho.

★Click here for the article introducing the Takachiho sites from the Manga!

On the other side of the TV is a quite peculiar item – Have you every wanted to play an instrument used as a furniture? Probably not until you encountered one! This is a harmonica chest of drawers and honestly, without being a music enthusiast this alone is worth the visit!

Modern legends, leaves, bears and a unicorn!

Legends are constantly born, and luckily here you can find some on display!

For example is this branch of Lindera Glauca, the fact that the leaves of the tree “never fall” of the branches, has made the leaves a success as an amulett for good luck on exams and job interviews.

Older legends on display here are from legendary bears and a mythical horn, said to be the horn from the unicorn of Mt. Sobo.

To the exhibition hall

Let us head upstairs!

This is the exhibition hall, now it is time to experience the historical objects!

Here you will find town terrain layouts, fossils, clay figurines, remains from stone tools and pottery, as well as animals on display, through the Japanese Paleolithic period (around 40,000-14,000 BC) until Showa period (1926–1989).

These interestingly shaped horizontal tombs are special for the Takachiho region. Several tombs were found and excavated dating back to the Kofun period (around 300 to 538). The tomb on display in the museum has been recreated from casts made from the surface of the tomb. In the tombs you can see the remains of a bed in the center and a stone pillow.

You will also find Japanese swords and jewellery, including several of the curved beads called “magadama”.

Heap of old coins are on display with there own unique histories. The first coins in Japan were imported from China to use as a currency in Japan. But since the amount imported where so few, many took it upon themselves to counterfeit their own coins, all with different qualities and designs. Here you can have a look at all these unique coins packed with Japanese history.

A surprising display of modern history!

While on a mission to drop relief supplies, a B-29 Superfortress of the United States Air Force flew into bad weather and crashed into Mt. Oyaji(親父岳) on August 30 in 1945. While parts of the wreckage is displayed at the museum, some parts of the plane can still be found on the mountain side.

A monument of peace has since been erected for the B-29 and a Japanese air crafts crews at the Sanshudai in Takachiho, a book has also been published on the incidents and can be bought at the reception.

Takachiho night Kagura

Traditional objects from the Takachiho night kagura are also on display. Such as masks, paper cutouts called “erimono” and wooden wands decorated with paper streamers called “gohei”, can be seen here.

There is also objects from a old murder case, as well as literature, the historical weapon jitte and the Japanese shell instrument Horagai on the second floor. You will also be able to see tangible cultural properties such as the komainus from Mukoyama shrine, scrolls and documents.

Before leaving for the day, do check out the stamp station and the free origami gifts made by local students.

Information in English

In here most of the days you will find a quite atmosphere where you can enjoy items with a thick history in your own pace. While there are no information signs in english, they are helpful and knowledgeable staff on site as well as a website with information in english that you can check out.

★Click here for the official website!

Conclusion

Did we peak your learning interest?

The first floor is easy accessed for those of you who just wish to have a look, and if you get intrigued why not check out the items on the second floor? Many of these are items you would see in manga, on TV or at a big exhibitions packed with other people, only that here, you have them almost for yourself!

Photo is allowed on both floors so enjoy yourself, learn and make some memories!

Since the museum consist of you floors you can experience it all in a couple of hours.