is a museum-equivalent facility in

Nemuro Nemuro may refer to: * Nemuro Subprefecture, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan ** Nemuro, Hokkaido, a city ** Nemuro Peninsula ** Nemuro Strait ** Nemuro Bay * Nemuro Province was an old province in Japan in what is today Nemuro Subprefecture, Hokkai ...

Hokkaidō is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

, Japan. It was established by the City of Nemuro in 2004 and is classed as a general museum, collecting and exhibiting materials relating both to the humanities and the natural sciences.

History

The red-brick building in which the museum is housed dates to 1942, when it was built for a communications detail from the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

Ōminato Guard District The was the major navy base for the Imperial Japanese Navy in northern Honshu before and during World War II. Located in Mutsu Bay at the present-day city of Mutsu, Aomori, Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, the Ōminato Guard District was responsible fo ...

. Repurposed after the war as the schoolhouse for Hanasakiminato Junior School, after the school relocated to new premises, from 1990 it served, as the , for storage, research into, and the display of materials relating to the area's natural and cultural history. Since October 2004, with its name changed to Nemuro City Museum of History and Nature, it has operated as a museum-equivalent facility, designated in accordance with the Museum Act.

Collection

''Ekaterina'' (c. 1792), the vessel, captained by V. F. Lovtsov, on which Adam Laxman sailed to Japan The collection of some forty thousand items includes a painting of the ship ''Ekaterina'' (俄羅斯舩之図), dating from the time

Adam Laxman Adam Kirillovich (Erikovich) Laxman (russian: Адам Кириллович (Эрикович) Лаксман) (1766 – 1806?) was a Finnish–Swedish military officer and one of the first subjects of Imperial Russia to set foot in Japan. A l ...

arrived aboard the vessel on his 1792 Japanese expedition, and designated a Municipal Tangible Cultural Property; one of the four main boundary markers placed in 1906 along the 50th parallel at the time of the demarcation of the Sakhalin frontier following the

Treaty of Portsmouth A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal perso ...

that brought the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

to its close (the only time Japan has used boundary stones to define its territory; ''cf''. Painting 75 at the

Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery is a gallery commemorating the "imperial virtues" of Japan's Emperor Meiji, Meiji Emperor, installed on his funeral site in the ''Meiji Shrine#Gaien, Gaien'' or outer precinct of Meiji Shrine in Tōkyō. The gallery is one of the earliest Japanes ...

) (国境標石); items relating to the

sea otter The sea otter (''Enhydra lutris'') is a marine mammal native to the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean. Adult sea otters typically weigh between , making them the heaviest members of the weasel family, but among the small ...

s of the

Kuriles The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands (; rus, Кури́льские острова́, r=Kuril'skiye ostrova, p=kʊˈrʲilʲskʲɪjə ɐstrɐˈva; Japanese: or ) are a volcanic archipelago currently administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the ...

; cannery labels (''cf.'' the

Nemuro Strait Nemuro Strait, also called Notsuke Strait and Kunashirsky Strait (russian: Кунаширский пролив), is a strait, located at , separating Kunashir Island of the Kuril Islands, Russia ( claimed by Japan) from the Shiretoko Peninsula, Hokk ...

s Coastal Cannery Labels that are part of Japan Heritage "Story" #084); a ''

dogū are small humanoid and animal figurines made during the later part of the Jōmon period (14,000–400 BC) of prehistoric Japan. ''Dogū'' come exclusively from the Jōmon period, and were no longer made by the following Yayoi period. There are ...

'' and other grave goods excavated from the (a Prefectural Tangible Cultural Property); and ceramics, including Urahoro-style Jōmon pottery of c. 7,500 BC, a Jōmon pot of c. 4,000 BC adorned with a bear that is the oldest animal design found to date in eastern Hokkaidō (a Municipal Tangible Cultural Property), and ceramics of the later

Okhotsk Okhotsk ( rus, Охотск, p=ɐˈxotsk) is an urban locality (a work settlement) and the administrative center of Okhotsky District of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, located at the mouth of the Okhota River on the Sea of Okhotsk. Population: ...

and Satsumon cultures.

References

External links

*
Nemuro City Museum of History and Nature
*

(with photographs) {{authority control Nemuro, Hokkaido Museums in Hokkaido History museums in Japan Natural history museums in Japan Museums established in 2004 2004 establishments in Japan

History

Collection

See also

References

External links