folk exhibition room

The Folklore Exhibition Room exhibits materials such as annual events of Inagi City, materials for folk tools, local performing arts, stonework, and fishing tools.

In the Inagi city area, life has been centered on agriculture for a long time. Villages were created by building private houses in consideration of geographical conditions such as hills and flatlands. A model of an old private house in the Sakahama area from the Edo period, a model of an earthen storehouse and a firewood hut are on display. Also on display is a topographical model created by researching the old place names and settlements in the Sakahama area.

The items used in daily life for food, clothing, shelter, and agricultural work are on display. Farming clothes, footwear, cooking tools, farming tools, sericulture tools, pear-making tools, etc. In particular, various tools for making pears, a specialty of Inagi, are on display.

Edo no Sato Kagura is said to have originated in the early Muromachi period, and has been designated as an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Japan. The tools and costumes used in kagura, masks, and life-size kagura statues are on display. In addition, local performing arts such as shishimai (lion dance), hayashi (music), gagaku (traditional Japanese court music), taiko (drums), and matoikiyari are introduced.

Various stone structures built after the Edo period are distributed on the old roads and shrine precincts in the city. Typical stone structures are the Jizo Bodhisattva Pagoda, the Koshin Pagoda, and the Batou Kannon Pagoda, which are introduced in full-scale models. It also introduces the beliefs of the local people who built these stone structures.

Hebi Yori Gyoji is a folk event held every year on August 7th at Myokenson in Hyakumura, and has been designated as an Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Tokyo. Aogaya is twisted into a large snake to pray for warding off evil for the year. A life-size serpent head model and photos of the day's events are on display.

In the Tama River around Inagi, various lifestyles related to the river have been seen since ancient times. People lived by river fishing including sweetfish fishing, ferry docks set up in three locations within the city limits, and building river boats on the Tama River. Here, various fishing tools used in river fishing, models of river boats such as houseboats, and tools for building river boats are on display.