Tohoku University Museum, University museum in Aoba-ku, Japan

The Tohoku University Museum is an academic collection facility in Sendai that holds more than two million objects from diverse fields. The holdings include rocks, minerals, fossils, archaeological artifacts, and maps from across Asia, all systematically cataloged for research and public education.

The museum was established in 1998 to create a central archive for scientific materials collected throughout the university's long research history. This founding formalized the management of collections that had been assembled during decades of academic work and fieldwork.

The exhibitions show how researchers at the university have studied the natural world and regional history through scientific inquiry. The collection reflects long-standing academic interests in geology, archaeology, and geography that have developed over more than a century.

The museum is located on the campus in Aobayama, easily accessible by subway from Sendai Station. The exhibition spaces are organized to let visitors move through different collection areas at their own pace and choose what to see.

The museum holds Japan's largest collection of pre-Pacific War maps made by the Army Land Survey Department: about 70,000 sheets in some 12,000 varieties. The Tibetan sculpture collection is another holding. Because no dedicated building was ever built, only natural history and geography are on permanent display.