Edo-Tokyo Museum

The Edo-Tokyo Museum is a municipal museum in the Ryogoku district of Tokyo dedicated to the history and urban development of Edo and modern Tokyo. The current museum building opened in the early 1990s and is known for its distinctive elevated design.

The museum was established as a dedicated institution to preserve and interpret Tokyo’s urban past and opened in its current purpose-built facility in the early 1990s. Its collections were assembled from city archives and private collections to document the Edo period through the 20th century.

The museum stands in Ryogoku on the eastern side of central Tokyo, close to the Sumida River and a few minutes’ walk from JR and Toei lines at Ryogoku Station, and near the Ryogoku Kokugikan sumo arena.

• Access: Located beside the Sumida River and a short walk from Ryogoku Station, making it easy to visit together with the nearby Kokugikan (sumo arena).
• Building: The museum building is notable for its raised, box-like structure designed by Kiyonori Kikutake and opened to the public in the early 1990s.

What to See #

• Permanent galleries: Permanent exhibition galleries tracing Tokyo's development from the Edo period through the 20th century, featuring models, maps and artifacts for chronological displays.
• Scale models and reconstructions: Large-scale architectural models and reconstructions used to illustrate urban and social life in historical Edo, including detailed bridge and street models.