Edo Tokyo Museum

The Edo Tokyo Museum, located in Yokoami, Sumida Ward, Tokyo, is a large history and culture museum that, since its opening in 1993 (Heisei 5), has been widely known to visitors from Japan and abroad as a facility that comprehensively displays urban culture, folk life, and samurai culture from the Edo period to modern Tokyo. Its distinctive elevated-structure architecture, spanning seven stories above ground and approximately 46,000 square meters in total floor area, was designed by Kiyonori Kikutake with the Edo Castle tenshu as its motif, and forms a cultural landmark of Sumida Ward together with Ryogoku Kokugikan and Ekoin Temple.

From the perspective of Japanese swords and samurai culture, the museum's permanent exhibition 'Edo Zone' is most significant. In the exhibition focused on samurai society during the Edo period, the life and culture of daimyo, hatamoto, and gokenin are meticulously recreated, with original artifacts including Japanese swords, armor, sword fittings, and muskets—essential equipment of warriors—displayed. Scale models of daimyo residences and samurai quarters in the Edo Castle area, along with displays of tools and weapons related to daimyo processions (sankin kotai), are highlights; visitors can gain a three-dimensional understanding of how the Japanese sword functioned as a symbol of samurai status and authority in Edo society.

Particularly important is the opportunity to systematically learn how, during the 260 years of Tokugawa shogunate rule—an era of peace—the Japanese sword transformed from a practical weapon to a tool of ritual, artistic craft, and spiritual training. Abundant materials are displayed to provide comprehensive understanding of Edo-period sword culture, including the artisan traditions of swordsmiths, sword-fitting makers, and tsuka-maki workers, the distribution and connoisseurship culture of swords, and the handling of swords in samurai etiquette.

Given its convenient location just a 3–5 minute walk from Ryogoku Station (on both the JR Sobu Line and Tokyo Metro Oedo Line), it is ideal for combined visits to related Edo culture facilities such as Ryogoku Kokugikan and Sumida Hokusai Museum. Following renovation, it reopened in 2026 with state-of-the-art display facilities.