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The Takenaka Carpentry Museum was opened in Nakayamate, Chuo ward, Kobe in 1984 to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the establishment of the Takenaka Corporation. It is the place where Touemon Takenaka founded the Takenaka Corporation after moving from Nagoya where he had started his business in 1899.
Carpentry tools, especially those that are of a particularly high quality, suffer the destiny of being used until they wear down to the point of losing their shapes completely. This museum was set up as a corporate museum in order to collect and conserve such tools as a Japanese heritage in order to allow for the research as well as their exhibition to the wider public. The museum aims to pass on those tools to future generations. It became a foundation in 1989 and was registered as a history museum under the Museum Law the following year marking the beginning of its life as a public-interest corporation.
More than 26,000 tools have been collected to this day. We have prepared a permanent collection with actual tools and supporting material such as panels and videos to allow our visitors to witness the amazing world of carpentry tools, dividing it into 3 sections: "TO MASTER" (first floor), "CONSTRUCT" (second floors) and "HAND DOWN" (third floor). Moreover, temporary exhibitions, lectures, seminars, workshops and other events are also periodically held in order to allow the skills and the spirit of craftsmen to be appreciated by as many people as possible.
We hope that the tools on display will get the skills and the spirit of past craftsmen through to our visitors, and that they will contribute to the enrichment of the manufacturing skills of the future.
Overview of the facility
Main building: 3 floors above ground
and 1 floor under ground.
Ground floor area:423m2
Building ground floor area:246m2
Total area:1,052m2
Main collection items*as of December, 2012
Carpentry tools: 15,946
Felling and lumbering tools: 396
Blacksmith tools: 742
Other tools: 876
Folklore materials: 159
Historical documents and Reference documents: 8,174
Audio and video material: 777
Replicas and specimens : 741