Kochi Prefectural Kochi Castle History Museum

liu yijie 3 months ago

500 💹 entrance fee gets you access to all 3 floors of the museum. There's a hands on gallery where you can experience dressing up in samurai helmet and robes, and also try your hand at creating a portrait by layering 5 different stamps. Meant for kids, but still had fun nonetheless. The audio guide is free and provides a detailed explanation of the various artifacts in the gallery. Information is contextualized for non-Japanese visitors and it was helpful to learn about Kochi's history.

Kathryn Mathers 2 years ago

It's a small museum, but very nice to see the history. You can also make a cool postcard stamp to remember your visit.

Nat Fine 3 years ago

Beautiful, state-of-the-arts museum. You can enjoy Sakamoto Ryoma latte art in the cafe on the second floor while taking in the view of the castle. The museum itself has lots of interesting cultural and military artifacts. There is some English though I wish there were more. Many of the captions are addressed to child audiences though, so if you can read some Japanese you will be able to follow along well enough. The museum also offers some nicely done history videos, many of which have English subtitles. I saw the staff disinfecting surfaces and they take your temperature when you enter so you can enter without worrying too much about the coronavirus.

Paul Walsh 4 years ago

This rating is based on a non-Japanese visitor’s oerspective. I would give the building that houses this museum 4 stars due to its beautiful design which incorporates local materials (wood in particular) and motifs throughout - though this could be more clearly explained. The exhibits are mostly artifacts from the Yamanouchi clan who occupied neighboring Kochi Castle from the early 17th century. There are many important historical documents on display, the significance of which is unfortunately lost on the casual visitor. There are some visually appealing artifacts - the samurai helmets based upon animal forms are particularly - on display, but the exhibition is probably best suited to those with a strong interest in Japanese history. I recommend viewing the videos available BEFORE going around the exhibits and to use foreign language the audio guide available (¥1000 deposit). Admission to the 1st and 2nd floors is free - the museum shop has some nice stuff in it, but the 2f cafe is kind of “old school”. The view of the castle from the 3rd floor gallery (admission free required) is nice, but it’s difficult to avoid reflection from the glass windows and is not that much better than the view from the castle steps.

François Marquis 6 years ago

Nice, brand new museum. Audio guide and some explanations in English, which is most appreciated. However, the collection is pretty small for the fee. Please note that combined tickets museum/castle are available at the museum. When we visited, only the permanent collection consisting mainly of maps and books/scrolls were on display. The special exhibition was closed so I can't comment on this.