Nihon Minka-en, Open-air folk house museum in Tama Ward, Japan.
Nihon Minka-en is an open-air museum in Tama that houses 25 traditional buildings from different regions of Japan, including farmhouses, merchant structures, and fishing village dwellings. The buildings display the varied architectural styles and living arrangements that existed across different areas.
The buildings date from the Edo period and were carefully dismantled from their original locations, transported, and reconstructed on the museum grounds. This process preserved construction methods and living arrangements that might otherwise have disappeared.
The craft demonstrations show how people once performed their everyday work, especially with natural dyeing techniques for textiles. Visitors can watch these skills in action and see how they shaped daily life in communities.
The museum is roughly a 15-minute walk from Mukogaoka Yuen Station and operates daily. The paths between buildings are easy to navigate, and there are places on-site to eat and drink.
Visitors can eat authentic soba noodles prepared fresh inside one of the reconstructed farmhouses that operates as a working restaurant. Dining in this historical setting offers a sensory understanding of how people once lived.
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