Located in a huge swath of Azuma Sports Park in Fukushima city, Minka-en is an open-air architectural museum preserving the Aizu heritage of Fukushima prefecture. While some buildings represent the best examples of their class, others are truly unique structures designated as national or prefectural cultural properties.

Preserving Important Elements of Fukushima’s Past

With most of these buildings scattered throughout Fukushima Prefecture, maintaining and preserving them would have posed a challenge to the local governments, and many of the buildings would eventually be lost. By carefully dismantling each building and reconstructing them in their original forms within Minka-en, each building can enjoy a new life in a place where it can be easily maintained and enjoyed by future generations.