Kouzu Kobunka Museum

Highlight

The collection contains many pieces of armor, the photo to the right showing one such full suit

A collection derived from period movies

This museum has a unique collection of Japanese samurai costumes used in movies and TV dramas. This came about because Shozo Makino (known as the father of Japanese movies) asked the first museum director Yoshiie Kouzu to find film and drama props, which Kouzu did, amassing a huge collection from all over the country. The museum houses and exhibits a part of that massive collection.
Armor and swords, including Important Cultural Properties, head the amazingly diverse list of works, followed by gorgeous Edo period wedding caboodle, popular contemporary pictures, paintings by the Maruyama and Shijo schools, tea utensils, Kyoto ceramics, dyed fabrics such as silk gowns dyed in the Yuzen style and many more that are all sublime treasures. Special exhibitions tied to various themes are staged twice a year in spring and autumn to give the world a peek at this exceptional collection.
And, the museum could not be better located, as the area was the home of Hokkedo Studio.