Tsurugajo (Aizu-Wakamatsu Castle) Museum

The Wakamatsu Castle Keep Local History Museum (Tsuruga-jō Keep) is a museum facility installed inside the keep of Tsuruga-jō (Wakamatsu Castle). It collects and exhibits mainly the history and culture of the Aizu Domain (Matsudaira and Hoshina clans). Tsuruga-jō is a historic site remembered, along with the tragedy of the Byakkotai, for the siege during the Boshin War (1868). The museum installed in its keep functions as the core collection base for Aizu's samurai culture and war-history materials.

Throughout the Edo period, the Aizu Domain was a shinpan (related domain) of the Matsudaira and Hoshina clans, in a position to support the Tokugawa shogunate. In the permanent exhibits inside the keep, the 2nd floor introduces the successive lords of Aizu: Ashina, Date, Gamō, Uesugi, Katō, Hoshina, and Matsudaira. The 3rd floor presents Aizu during the turbulent period from the Protector of Kyoto (Kyoto Shugoshoku) to the Boshin War. On the 1st floor, the special exhibition room hosts special exhibitions on various themes.

Against the backdrop of the Byakkotai, the Boshin War, and the history of the Aizu Domain, the museum also attracts strong interest from inbound foreign tourists. From Tokyo Station, take the Tōhoku Shinkansen (about 90 minutes) and the JR Ban'etsu West Line (about 65 minutes), transferring at Kōriyama Station, to reach Aizu-Wakamatsu Station.