①②＜Honma Museum of Art＞
To promote local culture, the Honma merchant family, Japan’s greatest landholders, transformed their villa into Japan’s first post-war privately established art gallery. The attached Kakubu-en Garden, designated a National Place of Beauty, is elegantly laid out around a path circling the central pond, framing the backdrop of Mt. Chokai in the distance. Seienkaku, the main building, was made as lodgings for Lord Sakai, the daimyo of the area, to use during his rounds of the territory. It has since served as a guest house for many other dignitaries, including Emperor Meiji. Visitors can enjoy matcha green tea and Japanese confections there as well. These three locations have all earned stars in the Michelin Green Guide: Japan.
③④＜Chido Museum＞
Located in what was once Tsuruoka castle’s outer courtyard, the former residence of Tsuruoka’s feudal lords, the Sakai clan, is now open to the public as the Chido Museum. Visitors can enjoy matcha green tea and Japanese confections while gazing upon the Sakai’s old-fashioned Japanese garden, designed in the rare shoin style. The former Nishitagawa District Office that served as lodgings for Emperor Meiji on his imperial tour to Tohoku, the old Tsuruoka Police Station (an Important Treasure of Yamagata Prefecture, built in a pseudo-European style common at the beginning of the Meiji era), the historic multi-layered farmhouse of the Shibuya family (relocated from the Tamugimata area of Asahi Village at the foot of Dewa Sanzan’s Mt. Yudono), and other valuable historic structures here are designated Important National Treasures of Japan. The two-story Folkcraft House, built at the end of the Edo Period, holds folk artifacts that tell the story of everyday life in the Shonai region, including a total of 5,350 designated Important Tangible Cultural Folk Properties of Japan spanning 8 categories. Altogether, 6 star-rated entries in Michelin’s Green Guide: Japan can be found here!
Honma Museum of Art
Chido Museum