Shikoku Kochi, Bakumatsu Restoration Exhibition

   March 4, 2017, saw the opening of a grand event involving the whole of Kochi Prefecture; “Shikoku Kochi, Bakumatsu Restoration Exhibition”. Many of you may have seen flags and fliers in various places across the prefecture, but did you know about the restoration exhibition? We really wanted the foreign community to hear about this event as well, so we decided to take it up as our topic for this issue.

 

Q1. What is this event about?
   Going back to the time of the Bakumatsu, the end of Edo Period (the latter half of the 19th century) many of the famous historical figures that emerged and who are still talked about today, came from the Tosa Domain (Kochi Prefecture), including Sakamoto Ryoma, Nakaoka Shintaro and Iwasaki Yataro. The exhibition “Shikoku Kochi, Bakumatsu Restoration Exhibition” helps people learn about Tosa’s wonderful food, nature, climate and culture which are connected to the era that these great figures nurtured.

 

Q2. Where and when is it being held?
   The first installment is from March 4, 2017 to March 31, 2018, and the second is scheduled to be held for a year starting April 1, 2018. There are two main venues; “Kochi Castle Museum of History” and “Sakamoto Ryoma Memorial Museum (at present, with the renewal of the current building and the construction of the new building, the grand opening is scheduled for spring of 2018 in time for the second installment)” and the sub-venue is “Kochi Tabi Hiroba”. Additionally, exhibitions of valuable historical materials are being held in 20 other local venues such as historical and cultural facilities related to the warriors of the Bakumatsu Restoration.

 

   This time the CIRs and KIA staff went and visited “Kochi Castle Museum of History” and the places connected to “Iwasaki Yataro” and “Nakaoka Shintaro” who were alive during the Bakumatsu era.