Museum Meiji-mura, Architectural museum in Inuyama, Japan.
Museum Meiji-mura is an open-air museum near Inuyama that gathers more than 60 historical buildings across hills beside Lake Iruka. The structures include homes, churches, public buildings, and bridges relocated and rebuilt from across Japan.
Yoshiro Taniguchi and Motoo Tsuchikawa founded the site in 1965 to rescue Western-influenced structures from demolition during post-war rebuilding. Since then, buildings from across the nation have been dismantled, moved, and reassembled here to ensure their survival.
The name honors the Meiji era (1868–1912), when Japan opened to the West and adopted European building styles. The preserved structures show this mix of Western architecture and Japanese craftsmanship in timber and masonry.
Visitors can ride steam locomotives, streetcars, shuttle buses, or horse-drawn carriages to move between sites. Walking paths connect the buildings, with gentle slopes and several lookout points across the grounds.
Inside the historical facades are working shops for traditional sweets, tearooms, and game stalls. These everyday functions let visitors walk through the rooms and sense something of the atmosphere from past decades.
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