Chidō Museum, Regional heritage museum in Tsuruoka, Japan

The Chidō Museum displays objects and spaces showing how people lived and worked in the Shōnai region across multiple historic buildings. The grounds contain workshops, storage rooms, and living spaces that reveal how crafts were practiced and daily life organized centuries ago.

The museum was established in 1950 from a donation by the Sakai family and sits on the former administrative grounds of the Sakai clan near Tsuruoka Castle. This location had been a center of regional authority for centuries before being transformed into a place for preserving local heritage.

The museum takes its name from the Chidōkan, the Shōnai Domain's han school, whose materials and tools are held here. The grounds also keep the Goinden, built in 1863 as the retirement residence of the ninth lord Sakai Tadaaki, and the tea room Sanyoshitsu, retreat of Suga Sanehide, who led the Matsugaoka reclamation. Each January to March, the thatched Former Shibuya house is smoked with hearth fires to protect the roof from insects.

The museum is in the former third bailey of Tsuruoka Castle, about a 10-minute bus ride from Tsuruoka Station on Shōnai Kōtsū buses, or roughly 6 minutes by car from Tsuruoka IC. The relocated buildings stand apart from one another on the grounds, so allow time to walk between them. The Former Shibuya Family Home's thatched roof is smoked with a hearth fire from January to about March, with dates varying by year.

The Goinden was assembled in 1863 from two Edo residences of the Shōnai domain, at Yanagihara and Shitaya, and became the retirement home of Sakai Tadaaki, ninth lord, after he stepped down. Its remaining entrance and rear hall, Kanshodō, face the Sakai garden; the tea room Sanshoyoshi adjoining it was the retreat of Sugi Sanehide, who led the Matsugaoka reclamation.