Akita City Satake Historical Museum

Akita City Satake Historical Museum, located within the ruins of Kubota Castle (Senshu Park), specializes in historical materials related to the Satake family, lords of the Akita domain. It opened in 1990 and reopened on October 25, 2025 following a major rebuilding project. The new building, a reinforced-concrete/partial steel-frame two-story structure with a total floor area of roughly 2,607 square meters, is about five times larger than the previous building, with exhibition space approximately 2.5 times larger and storage capacity about six times larger.

Satake Family and Akita Domain Materials

The Satake family were tozama daimyo transferred from Hitachi Province to the Kubota domain (Akita domain) in Dewa Province in 1602, following the Battle of Sekigahara, and governed Akita until the Meiji Restoration. The museum houses over 3,400 items connected to successive Satake lords, including armor, swords, letters, and art crafts, offering a multifaceted introduction to Akita's politics, culture, and daily life during the domain era.

New Exhibition Techniques

The renovated exhibition rooms feature projection mapping illustrating the transformation of the Kubota castle town, along with a touch-panel "masterpiece database" for browsing key holdings, creating an experiential learning environment. An observation terrace offers views of Kubota Castle's Omote-mon gate and the Ninomaru Plaza of Senshu Park, enhancing visitors' ability to explore the entire castle-ruins park beyond the museum itself.

Connection to Osumi-yagura and Omonogashira-goban-sho

The annual admission pass also covers viewing of the Edo-period Osumi-yagura turret and Omonogashira-goban-sho guardhouse within Senshu Park, allowing visitors to use the museum as a base for exploring the full history of the Kubota Castle ruins.