Kikkawa Historical Museum
Kikkawa Historical Museum is a private museum of artefacts handed down by the Kikkawa clan, daimyō of Iwakuni Domain, in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. Located between Kintai-kyō bridge and Iwakuni Castle and opened by the Kikkawa Hōkōkai Society in 1995, the museum's collection totals some seven thousand items, including materials from the Heian and Kamakura periods, a painting attributed to Sesshū, and one National Treasure. There are four changing displays each year. Other materials once owned by the Kikkawa clan are on display at Iwakuni Chōkokan.
Highlights of the collection
- Japanese sword, from the Kamakura period Spring View from a Thatched Pavilion on the Lakeshore, traditionally attributed to Sesshū Tōyō; with an inscription by Tenyo Seikei, who journeyed twice on Japanese missions to Ming China, the second time with Sesshū accompanying
- Kimono with a design of paths through the mountains, flowers, grasses, tortoises, and cranes, from the Momoyama period; said to have been bestowed upon Kikkawa Hiroie by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1587 after his campaign in Kyūshū
- Kikkawa Family Documents: 102 items dating from the Kamakura to the Edo period ; a further 32 items, plus a catalogue, from the Meiji period Azuma Kagami: 48 volumes, from the Muromachi period Genkō Shakusho: 15 volumes, in the hand of Kikkawa Tsunemoto, from the Muromachi period Taiheiki: 40 volumes, in the hand of Kikkawa Motoharu, from the Muromachi period
- Lotus Sūtra in fine lettering, 8 scrolls: from the Heian period; formerly a temple treasure of Ninna-ji, later presented to Kikkawa Motonaga, as attested in the letter of transfer
- Portrait of Kikkawa Motonaga