Kikkawa Historical Museum

The Kikkawa Historical Museum houses and displays historical documents and art objects handed down through the Kikkawa family, a samurai house with roots reaching back to the Kamakura period. Located in the Yokoyama district at the foot of Iwakuni Castle near the Kintai Bridge, the museum opened in November 1995 and holds roughly 7,000 items spanning some 800 years of Kikkawa family history.

A Building Rooted in the Shōmeikan

Part of the museum building makes use of a structure attached to the Shōmeikan, built in 1793 as the retirement residence of Kikkawa Tsunetomo, the 7th lord of Iwakuni, and still retains its Edo-period appearance. The garden employs white sand from Awaji and black granite, in a design said to express the spirit of Zeami's treatise "Fūshikaden."

Descended from Kikkawa Motoharu, Son of Mōri Motonari

The Kikkawa family traces its founding to Motoharu, the second son of Mōri Motonari. After the generations of Motoharu and Hiroie, the family relocated to Iwakuni following the Battle of Sekigahara and continued as lords of Iwakuni until the Meiji Restoration.

The National Treasure Tachi "Kitsunegasaki" and Armor of the Lords

At the core of the collection is the National Treasure tachi "Kitsunegasaki," attributed to the smith Aoe Tametsugi and traditionally said to have been bestowed by Minamoto no Yoritomo. The museum also holds armor said to have been worn by Motoharu, including a head-shaped helmet, and a "catfish-tail" helmet attributed to Hiroie, along with numerous other pieces of armor and swords actually used by successive lords, many of them designated Important Cultural Properties. Centered on swords and armor, the museum's exhibits range broadly across the letters, documents, and furnishings of successive Kikkawa lords, making it a well-known record of one samurai house from the Sengoku period into the Edo period.