神奈川県立歴史博物館

Housed in the former Yokohama Specie Bank building (1894), a nationally designated Important Cultural Property of Meiji-era Baroque architecture, the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History is Kanagawa Prefecture's comprehensive history museum with approximately 140,000 objects. The museum is the principal institution for Sōshū-den (Sagami tradition) sword culture — the tradition of master smiths such as Masamune, Yukimitsu, and Sadamune who worked in Kamakura during the late Kamakura and Nanbokuchō periods and created one of Japan's five great sword traditions. The collection includes swords donated by regional shrines, temples, and former samurai families connected to the Hōjō, Miura, and Uesugi clans who ruled Sagami Province. A distinctive feature is the museum's examination of swords in the context of Yokohama's modernization — how the sword's social role transformed from weapon to art object following the 1876 sword-wearing prohibition.