Tendō Museum of Automatic Musical Instruments, Music museum in Tendo, Japan
The Tendō Museum of Automatic Musical Instruments was a museum in Tendo, Yamagata Prefecture, opened in June 2000 as part of the Tendo Wakuwaku Land complex. It displayed music boxes, automata, player pianos and mechanical organs, and included a record library holding about 7,000 records playable on high-end turntables. It closed on 13 June 2010.
The museum opened on 10 June 2000 as part of Tendo's Wakuwaku Land, on the site of today's Michi-no-Eki Tendo Onsen, and was run by Tohoku Pioneer as a corporate social contribution. It closed on 13 June 2010. In September 2011 the wedding company Life Ange acquired the building, which became the Bell Blanche Tendo wedding hall; in December 2011 a collection of 10,000 records was donated to Tendo city, which opened the Tendo Record Salon.
The museum's name comes from the Japanese word orugōru, a loanword for music box. During its years of operation, the hall was occasionally rented out as a wedding venue, so the mechanical instruments served both exhibition and ceremony. A separate record room held about 7,000 records, playable on high-grade turntables.
The museum closed on 13 June 2010, so the site at Kuwano-machi 2567 in Tendo is no longer open for visits. The building was sold in September 2011 and now operates as the wedding venue Bell Blanche Tendo. The roughly 10,000 records gathered by the museum were donated to Tendo city in December 2011 and made available at the Tendo Record Salon.
Visitors can watch the internal mechanisms at work while hearing the music that the devices produce, combining visual and sound experience. This setup makes it clear how each instrument creates its own sound through mechanical means.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 93,319 contributors worldwide.