Rikuzentakata City Museum

Museum Exterior

I am the kind of person that loves museums. Art, history, the normal and the obscure. Every new place I visit in the world I try to go to at least one local museum. They are the best place to learn more about the area and it leads me to appreciate the location more. Here in Rikuzentakata, I am lucky enough to be here for the reopening of the Rikuzentakata City Museum! After 11 years, the building and all its wonderful exhibits have been completed and it is now open to the public.

History

The Rikuzentakata City Museum was originally built in 1959 and housed over 560,000 items in its collection. Sadly, during the 2011 East Japan Earthquake Disaster, the museum was destroyed by the tsunami. Over the next 11 years, with the cooperation of museums around Japan, they were able to save and restore many of the recovered items from the collection, construct a new building in the original location, and renovate the building to highlight the history of the area, the 2011 disaster, and showcase the ecology of Rikuzentakata.

Exhibits

The museum features a variety of different exhibits that are connected by a free-flowing path inside the building. The first exhibit you encounter explains the geology of the area and how the Japanese Archipelago was formed. It even has a replica meteorite that landed in front of a temple named Choenji in the town of Kesen in 1850!

Geology Exhibit

Next is an area that displays the abundant wildlife you can see in and around Rikuzentakata. From birds to mammals, fish, and plants, it is fun to see a specimen that you have seen before and learn its name. Especially when it comes to fish, the oceans in the Sanriku Coast boast an extremely rich ecosystem with hundreds of distinct species calling it home.

Wildlife Exhibit

Following that is a large collection of tools and artifacts used by people who lived in the greater Sanriku area from as far back as the Jomon period! This includes fishing tools, pottery, and stone sticks known as sekibo. Connected to this exhibit is a side room with some other artifacts like maps and traditional crafts specific to the Rikuzentakata area.

Jomon Exhibit

One of the most interesting sections of the museum is the Shell Room. It has about 2,000 different varieties of seashells on display. From shells that are only a few millimeters long, to shells that are larger than a football, the variety of patterns, shapes, and colors that can be seen in these shells is amazing.

Shell Room

Coming out of the Shell Room you enter an exhibit that details the world of Natural History. The exhibit focuses on Genzo Toba, a natural historian that was born in Rikuzentakata and spent his life cataloging and researching the wildlife in Iwate Prefecture.

Natural History Exhibit

There are two areas that have information about earthquake and tsunami history in Rikuzentakata, one for disasters in the 1800s and 1900s, and one for the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster. There are items on display that were collected during the clean up efforts and are preserved for everyone to see.

Preserved Damaged Items Exhibit

At the end there is the Discovery Room, an area where anyone can learn about Rikuzentakata by playing with the interactive exhibits and materials. It is the perfect section for children and families to enjoy.

Discovery Room

Mascots

Of course, here in Japan everything has a mascot! The Rikuzentakata City Museum features two mascots, Sekibo and Doctor Donko. Sekibo comes from a Jomon era artifact, a stone stick (sekibo) that has a face carved into it. He likes summer and is very hardy, so he never gives up! (Because he is made of stone). Doctor Donko was a member of the former Sea and Shell Museum prior to the tsunami and has been brought on board to help Sekibo at the Rikuzentakata City Museum!

　Stone Stick Artifact　　　　　　　 Sekibo　　　　　　　　　　　Doctor Donko

With the new museum open to the public, I hope that anyone that travels to Rikuzentakata takes the time to walk through the museum, appreciate the history of the city, and enjoy the wonderful exhibits on display.