Yamagata Prefectural Museum to Hold Special Exhibition Marking 150 Years of Prefectural Government and the 100th Year of the Showa Era: “Civil Infrastructure: Opening Routes Across the Prefecture”

Yamagata Prefectural Museum will hold the FY2026 special exhibition “Civil Infrastructure: Opening Routes Across the Prefecture” from May 22 to August 30, 2026, commemorating the 150th anniversary of Yamagata Prefecture’s establishment and the 100th year of the Showa era. The year 2026 marks 150 years since the present-day Yamagata Prefecture was formed in 1876, as well as the symbolic 100th year of Showa. Yamagata’s rugged terrain, severe climate, and natural disasters have long hindered the movement of people and goods, yet residents have overcome these challenges by opening roads, railways, sea routes, and air routes across the prefecture. Centered on the theme of civil infrastructure, the exhibition explores how Yamagata’s land was formed, what kind of terrain it became, and how people have used and overcome that environment. The exhibition brings together materials related to Yamagata’s routes, showing 150 years of history since the prefecture’s founding, including how routes were built, protected, and used to transport people and goods. Highlights include rare materials on Yamagata’s routes from the Meiji era to the Reiwa era, a large five-meter diorama recreating historical landscapes, rarely seen geological survey equipment, and hands-on rock specimens that help visitors understand the prefecture’s geology. The exhibition is organized into four chapters. Chapter 1, “Opening Routes,” presents the history of route development in Yamagata beginning with the first prefectural governor, Michitsune Mishima, and includes railway equipment, symbols, lithographs, and station dioramas. Chapter 2, “Building and Protecting Routes,” focuses on geological surveys, disaster prevention, landslides, erosion control, and heavy-snow countermeasures, displaying boring machines, peel specimens, and geophysical survey equipment. Chapter 3, “What Routes Carried,” introduces how Yamagata’s industries developed alongside transportation, covering ores, timber, agricultural, forestry and fishery products, hot-spring tourism, and logistics. Chapter 4, “Hands-on Exhibition: The Feel of the Earth,” invites visitors to touch rock and mineral specimens and view a walkable geological map showing what kinds of rocks make up the land beneath Yamagata. Related programs include commemorative lectures on June 20, July 25, and August 11; a disaster-prevention experiment workshop on July 26; free admission and summer festival events on August 8 featuring rock-breaking and remote-control civil-infrastructure experiences; and a planned mid-August tour of Zao Dam, one of Japan’s hollow dams. The exhibition will be held in Exhibition Room 3 of Yamagata Prefectural Museum. Opening hours are 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with last admission at 4:00 p.m. The museum is closed on Mondays, except July 20, when it will open and close the following Tuesday; it will also be closed from July 4 to July 14 for fumigation. Admission is 300 yen for adults and 150 yen for students, while high school students and younger visitors, people with disabilities, and one accompanying person may enter free of charge.