Imabari Murakami Kaizoku Museum

The Imabari Murakami Kaizoku Museum is a museum facility located in Miyakubo Town (Oshima Island), Imabari City, Ehime Prefecture, and is known as a facility specializing in the exhibition of the history, culture, and maritime technology of the Murakami Kaizoku (Murakami Suigun)—the pirates who dominated the Seto Inland Sea during the Sengoku period. The Murakami Kaizoku divided into three families: Noshima, Kurashima, and Inshima, and constituted the most powerful pirate confederation that controlled maritime traffic in the Seto Inland Sea. They were a dominant maritime force of the Sengoku period, connected with figures such as Mōri Motonari, Ōtomo Sōrin, and Oda Nobunaga.

From the perspective of martial equipment collections, the Murakami Kaizoku Museum houses military culture materials of the pirate confederation, including naval weapons, armor, and swords. It is a rare facility where visitors can experience the distinctive characteristics of weapons and equipment of maritime warrior clans, which differ from those of land-based samurai. The materials of naval warfare weapons—including swords, naginata, stone-throwing projectiles, and hōroku fire arrows—used in Seto Inland Sea naval combat occupy an important position in understanding Japanese martial history from multiple perspectives when compared with land-based sword culture.

The museum also exhibits the results of archaeological investigations related to the Noshima Suigun. The exhibition composition, which combines artifacts recovered from the sea with documentary materials, has received high scholarly evaluation. In combination with boat tours to the nearby Noshima Castle Ruins (a National Historic Site), the museum provides a unique historical experience for tourism in the Seto Inland Sea island regions.