Costume Museum, Costume museum in Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto, Japan

The Costume Museum (Fūzoku Hakubutsukan) occupies the fifth floor of the Izutsu Saonyo Building in Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto, and is run by the Religious Culture Research Institute. Its centrepiece is a quarter-scale model of the spring pavilion of Rokujō-in, the residence of the character Hikaru Genji, furnished with dolls in Heian-period dress.

The museum opened in 1973, showing the customs and dress of successive Japanese eras. After repeated renewals it took its present form, centred on a quarter-scale model of the spring pavilion of Rokujō-in, Prince Genji's residence. On 4 February 2016 it moved from Shinhanayachō-dōri Horikawa in Shimogyō-ku to its current premises in the Izutsu Saou building. A closure of about three years from 1 April 2025 was announced because of seismic weaknesses in that building.

The displays draw on classic Japanese literature, especially The Tale of Genji, to show how court nobles dressed and spent their days at the Heian imperial court. Clothing was a marker of social rank at court, and the scenes make that visible in a direct way.

The museum sits on the fifth floor of an office building close to Kyoto Station, so the entrance can be easy to miss if you are not looking for it. Once inside, the scenes reward a slow and careful look, so it is worth taking your time rather than rushing through.

The dolls in the scenes wear costumes made at a 1:4 scale, with layers and fabrics that follow historical records closely. Court ladies of the Heian period wore up to 12 layered robes, a practice known as juunihitoe, and several dioramas make those layers clearly visible.