Shizuoka City Museum of History

The Shizuoka City Museum of History is a new museum located next to Sumpu Castle Park. The first floor is free to visit.  The fee to visit the permanent exhibit on the second and third floors is 600 yen.  The special exhibit is an additional 400 yen.  I opted for the special exhibit and paid 1000 yen. Some of the museum information in the permanent exhibit areas is in English, especially the subtitles to the videos and the interactive exhibits. Disappointingly, the special exhibit had no English information. 

Here is museum information from the Tokaido Guide website:

"At the Shizuoka City Museum of History, opened in January 2023 as a facility to promote the value and charm of the city's history, you can get a first hand look and become intimately familiar with the history of Shizuoka City. The museum building was designed by SANAA (Sejiima and Nishizawa and Associates), an architecture firm that also worked on the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, and the Louvre-Lens Museum (annex of the Louvre in Lens, France). A road and the remains of stone walls of samurai residences, thought to date to the late Sengoku (Warring States) Period were unearthed from the construction site. They are preserved and displayed in situ on the free to enter area of the first floor, so you can truly feel the accumulation of history in Shizuoka.

Walk up the ramp that wraps around this archaeological site to reach the exhibit rooms on the second floor. There you will find an introduction to Tokugawa Ieyasu, who spent one third of his 75 year life in Shizuoka, as well as the Imagawa clan who laid the foundations of Shizuoka. On the way to the third floor exhibit rooms is an observation lounge, where you can enjoy the view of Sumpu Castle Park. Look back at the past of Sumpu castle town, look out at the cityscape of Shizuoka City, and look forward to the future. In this time tunnel, you can feel the presence of Tokugawa Ieyasu, and see the city in a different light from normal."

This is the outside view of the museum:

This was the special exhibit on the third floor when I was there.

Photos were only allowed from the third floor observation area and on the first floor. 

The day I was there, I could see Mt. Fuji through just a few clouds in the background of the Sumpu Castle Park from the third floor  observation area.

This is the road excavation on the first floor.

Having visited castles and other historical areas, I was familiar with Tokugawa Ieyasu and was interested in finding out more of the story. This is a beautiful museum and I am glad I had the opportunity to visit.