Series Japanese Natural History : Birth of the Museum

The birth of museums in Japan occurred in March 1872, with the opening of an exhibition at the Yushima Confucian Shrine. The person in charge of the exhibition was Machida Hisanari. Through his experiences in Europe with the British Museum towards the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, he was inspired to construct a massive-scale general museum.

At the time, because of rapid Westernization and the separation of Buddhism and Shinto as part of distancing the government from the religion, there were efforts to deny traditional Japanese culture. Machida worked to protect important cultural items and thought it was necessary to halt the flow of these items overseas. He performed a survey of cultural properties in 1872 and appealed to the government to quickly construct a museum building that would display and store the items. In addition, the library at the Yushima Confucian Shrine, which contained over 130,000 books that had been owned by the shogunate, was opened to the public. The materials from the library served as a source of information; further investigation and collection of ancient works ensued in order to increase the museum's reference works.

Tanaka Yoshio worked hard to establish the museum's zoo as well as the promotion of production and industry. He edited the museum's illustrated albums and Oshiegusa books, and supported the distribution of knowledge. His major accomplishments have propelled the enlightenment of all.

The museum is now going through a large transition phase. When thinking about what direction that museum should pursue, it should be necessary to take the wishes of the museum's founders into consideration.