The Tagawa City Coal Mining Historical Museum was opened in 1983 (Showa 58) as the "Tagawa City Coal Center."

Sites were set on growing it into a full-fledged museum from the beginning, and as things progressed, the name was finally changed to the "Tagawa City Coal Mining Historical Museum" in the year 2005 (Heisei 17).

The museum currently holds about 20,000 items in its possession, 15,000 of which pertain to coal mining.

In May 2011 (Heisei 23), the museum procured 585 paintings and 42 diaries from among the 697 Sakubei Yamamoto items included in the Memory of the World register, a segment of which are on display.

Aside from coal-related items, the museum is also home to Japan's oldest horse- and armed-warrior-shaped haniwa (clay images placed in ancient burial mounds) and many different kinds of weapons, arms, and harnesses from Japan's Tumulus period unearthed at the Sesudono burial mound, as well as Japan's most magnificently designed temple roof tiles unearthed at the Tendaiji (Kamiida-haiji) temple remains, among other nationally recognized historical and archaeological items.

The museum is also currently sponsoring Storytelling Sessions by people who actually experienced life in the coal mines, so as to leave behind the records of "Coal mine (yama) storytellers" like Sakubei Yamamoto.

Learn more

9:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. (doors close at 5:00)

Mondays (If Monday is a holiday, Tuesday. If Tuesday and the following days are holidays consecutively, the day after the last holiday. )

Location:2734-1 Oazaita, Tagawa, Fukuoka 825-0002, Japan
Telephone: 0947-44-5745