Watanabe Museum — Attraction in Tottori

Watanabe Museum.

The Watanabe Museum is a fascinating destination that showcases a remarkably diverse collection, reflecting the passion of its founder, Tatsuji Watanabe. Unlike many museums with a single focus, this one brings together an eclectic mix of samurai armor, traditional Japanese crafts, Asian antiques, and cultural artifacts from around the world. The result is a museum experience that feels both unexpected and deeply personal.

For visitors, the highlight is often the extensive samurai armor and weaponry collection, which provides a vivid glimpse into Japan’s warrior past. The detailed craftsmanship and preservation make it a rewarding subject for photography. Alongside this, displays of ceramics, textiles, and historical objects offer a broader perspective on Japanese heritage and cross-cultural connections.

The museum itself is spacious, with quiet corners that allow you to linger and observe details without rush. Photographers will appreciate the variety of subjects: intricate patterns on armor, delicate ceramics under soft lighting, and striking contrasts between traditional and modern presentation styles.

The Watanabe Museum is not just about history—it’s about curiosity and discovery. Whether you come to learn, to admire craftsmanship, or to capture unique images, this museum offers an inspiring and...

Fantastic museum. I've been to Japan twice now and visited many different museums but this one has to be right up there with the best of them. Price is reasonably inexpensive and well worth the money.

The museum collection is actually the personal collection of Watanabe-San, a doctor who was based in tottori who wished to display his collection of antiques and artifacts so that the public might appreciate them too. The collection is vast and covers many eras of Japanese history and has a large collection of katana, wakizashi, and samurai armour as well as various other weapons and military artifacts. Other items in the collection include furniture, statues, historical photos, cameras, statues and some lovely examples of kintsugi.

Me and my partner visited quite late in the day, around an hour before closing, and so weren't expecting much in the way of staff assistance. The receptionist spoke minimal English but we were able to get tickets and a little freebie, readily enough. As we were the only visitors that late in the day we got a guided tour of the majority of the collection and our guide was absolutely lovely. I couldn't have asked for better guide.

Please if you have the chance to visit this lovely museum do so it is well worth...

The private museum is lesser known, but it's definitely underrated. The collections are very abundant, not only samurai armours and weapons, but also other historical relics and ancient furniture.

The staff is super friendly, but hardly can they speak any English, as they are elderly. Still, we can communicate with them thru translate apps. They are very potential and kind.

They provide armour fitting service with a super good price (2,000 yen for trying on the full armour) that is way cheaper than the same service in big cities. I strongly recommend a visit if you...