What to know
Nihon Minkaen (日本民家園) is an open-air museum located in the suburbs of Kawasaki City. It features 25 preserved buildings from the Edo Period (1603–1868), relocated here from across Japan. Highlights include traditional farmhouses like a gassho-zukuri house from Shirakawago, samurai residences, merchant houses, post-town buildings, fishing village homes, a shrine, and a kabuki stage.
On Sundays, some buildings host demonstrations of traditional crafts such as indigo dyeing, straw and bamboo crafting, and cloth weaving. Daily indigo dyeing workshops let you dye your own handkerchief, bandana, or shop curtain for a small fee. Throughout the year, cultural events and festivals like rice cake pounding, folk storytelling, traditional carpentry, and lion dances take place.
The museum also houses a small folk museum with a rich collection of tools and folk instruments from the feudal era. A soba restaurant operates inside one of the farmhouses.
Nihon Minkaen is a 15-minute walk from Mukogaoka Yuen Station on the Odakyu Odawara Line (20 minutes, 270 yen by express from Shinjuku, frequent departures) or a 25-minute walk from Noborito Station on the JR Nambu Line (30 minutes, 350 yen from Kawasaki Station, frequent departures). It is also a 25-minute walk from the Fujiko F. Fujio Museum.
Visitor information
Practical details to check before planning this stop.
- Hours
- 9:30 to 17:00 (until 16:30 from November to February)
- Closed
- Mondays (or the following day if Monday is a national holiday); days following national holidays (except Saturdays and Sundays); December 29 to January 3
- Admission
- 550 yen (~$3.52)
- English name
- Nihon Minkaen
- Original name
- Nihon Minkaen Open Air Museum
Verify details before visiting. Currency conversion is indicative and may vary over time.