About The Itami City Museum of Art, History and Culture (I/M)
The Itami City Museum of Art, History and Culture (I/M), a community-based facility, is a comprehensive center for the presentation of art, culture and history that reopened in April 2022 as the new Municipal Itami Museum, integrating the functions of the former Itami City Museum and other cultural facilities with the Itami City Art Museum, which opened in 1987.
Located in the south-east of Hyogo Prefecture, Itami City prospered as a city of sake during the Edo period (1603-1867) and has grown into a city with a strong cultural flavour that attracted many writers and artists. The Miyanomae area, which is the city's central area, is home to four cultural facilities: the Kakimori Bunko, the Itami City Museum of Art, the Itami Municipal Crafts Centre and has been familiarly known as the cultural zone ‘Miyanomae Cultural Town’.
With the aim of becoming familiar as the museum of such Itami, of me and of everyone, it has been given the abbreviation ‘I/M’ for The Itami City Museum of Art, History and Culture.
Access and visitor information for The Itami City Museum of Art, History and Culture
Address | 2-5-20 Miyanomae, Itami-shi, Hyogo |
TEL | 072-772-5959（main） |
Access from nearest station | 9 min walk northeast from Hankyu Itami Station, 6 min walk northwest from JR Itami Station. |
Opening hours | 10:00〜18:00 (admission by 17:30) |
Closed | Mondays (if Monday is a public holiday, the museum is open on Monday and closed the following weekday), Year-end and New Year holidays. |
Admission fee | Fees differ for each exhibition, event or lecture. For more information, check the official pages. Exhibition Room 4 (permanent historical exhibition) is free to visit. Admission to the former Okada family residence and sake cellar and the former Ishibashi family residence is free (except when rooms are available for hire). |
Facilities | wheelchair rental, multipurpose toilets (ostomate accessible), baby care rooms (one on each of the first and second floors), first aid room. Guide dogs, hearing dogs and service dogs are allowed. |
Note | There is no dedicated parking space. Please use the paid Itami Municipal Miyanomae Area Underground Parking Lot (nearest entrance/exit: C-11). *Please enquire about parking spaces for the physically challenged. |
Official website |
Highlights of the Municipal Itami Museum
Collections
The basic theme of The Itami City Museum of Art, History and Culture (I/M) is ‘City of Sake and Culture’.The museum also collects and preserves materials from a wide range of fields such as arts, crafts, haikai and history, based on the 9,000 art works on the theme of ‘satire and humour’ from the former Itami City Museum of Art (opened in 1987) and the 160,000 local materials on the history and folk customs of Itami City from the former Itami City Museum (opened in 1972). The museum collects and preserves materials from a wide range of fields, including arts, crafts, haikai and history, and exhibits a variety of items from the collection. Among them, many of the exhibits reflect the history of sake brewing in Itami City, and there is also a permanent exhibition on the history of Itami City.
Important cultural assets such as the former Okada Family Residence and Sake Brewery (designated as a National Important Cultural Property) and the former Ishibashi Family Residence (designated as a Prefectural Tangible Cultural Property) are also open to the public and are valuable resources for Itami's sake brewing tradition.
A variety of exhibitions and lectures are held regularly: from 11 October to 22 December 2024, the first major solo exhibition of world-renowned cartoonist Junji Ito will be held, entitled Junji Ito: Temptation, while special exhibitions will cover a truly diverse range of themes, from contemporary art to crafts and design.
Architecture
The building blends in naturally with the surrounding historical buildings and the townscape, while continuing the design of the former museum.
The Japanese garden within the facility was created by the leading Japanese garden designer SHIGEMORI Kanto, and was partially renovated by his successor SHIGEMORI Sen'ai.
Museum shop
‘Itami Gocho Craft Shop’, located on the first floor of the former Ishibashi Family Residence, a designated prefectural cultural asset, displays and sells the craft works of about 100 craftspeople who are active nationwide. Seasonal fairs are also held and the catalog of special exhibitions and related products are popular.
The shop also sells catalogs of the former Itami City Museum and the former Itami Municipal Crafts Centre, as well as goods from the Kakimori Bunko, one of the three largest collections of Japanese poetry (haikai).
The shopping experience in the building, which has been used as a shop since the Edo period, is an exceptional one.
Opening hours: 10:00-18:00
Closed: Same as museum closing days