Miyazawa Kenji Sights: Dowa Mura & Museums

Dowa Mura and Kenji’s School

At Dowa Mura, you explore indoor exhibitions and outdoor spaces based on Kenji’s fairy tales. Enter through Galaxy Station onto the station square. The grounds also include the Fairy Path, Sky Square and a wildflower garden. Inside Kenji’s School, you pass through five zones: Fantastic Hall, Space, Sky, Earth and Water.

The log houses on the grounds contain Kenji’s Classrooms exhibitions. You can enter the Classrooms and the outdoor areas for free. You pay admission to Kenji’s School.

The Memorial Museum, Ihatov Center and Polan Square

The Memorial Museum displays Kenji’s belongings and manuscripts. Exhibits cover his poetry and fairy tales, as well as his work in education, agriculture and science. You can watch videos and slides or consult library materials. There is also a café space and a shop selling Kenji-related souvenirs.

At the Ihatov Center, you can browse artworks and research papers by people who have studied or responded to Kenji. The center hosts lectures and research presentations. The Kenji Society has its headquarters here. In the shop, you can buy picture books, research books, CDs and videos. The café serves light meals.

South of the Memorial Museum, Polan Square is a quiet green space named after a Kenji work. The square has a south-sloping flowerbed and a sundial bed designed by Kenji. He could not build them during his lifetime because of financial and technical problems. The beds were later recreated from his surviving drawings and letters.

Rasu Chijin Kyokai’s relocated schoolhouse stands on the grounds of Hanamaki Agricultural High School, away from this museum cluster.

Hours and tickets

Kenji’s School and Memorial Museum admission

The Ihatov Center and Polan Square are free to enter.

Hanamaki City Museum

Nearby Hanamaki City Museum covers archaeology, local history, art and crafts.

Maintenance closure: Hanamaki City Museum closes from November 24–December 4, 2026 for collection maintenance.

Adult combined tickets

The participating facilities are:

• Dowa Mura’s Kenji no Gakko (Kenji’s School)
• Nitobe Memorial Museum
• Miyazawa Kenji Memorial Museum
• Hanamaki City Museum

Weekly and seasonal closures

Since April 2026, the sites have different weekly closing days.

If a closing day falls on a public holiday, the site closes on the next weekday. The annual calendars include exceptions. You can usually visit all three from Wednesday through Sunday.

Dowa Mura, the Memorial Museum and Ihatov Center close for New Year from December 28–January 3. Dowa Mura may also close for equipment maintenance.

Getting there

The Tsuchizawa Line stops at Kenji Kinenkan-guchi.

You can avoid the museum staircase by taking a taxi. From Yumoto, take the resort bus to Hanamaki Station. Change there to the Tsuchizawa Line.

For an overnight stay at Koyokan in Yumoto, reserve the guest shuttle from the station ahead of arrival. You still need to travel between Yumoto and the Takamatsu sites. You can walk to Yumoto’s gardens and falls in a shorter interval around arrival or departure.

Yamaneko-ken

Wildcat House, or Yamaneko-ken, takes its name from Kenji’s The Restaurant of Many Orders. The restaurant stands in the Memorial Museum parking lot at Yazawa 3-161-33, on the Takamatsu museum route.

The kitchen uses Ihatov ingredients in dishes such as Yamaneko zosui and Yamaneko suiton. You can also order Hanamaki suiton, Hakkinton pork cutlet curry or a chicken cutlet set made with Ishiguro Farm guinea fowl.