Our 126th entry in this blog is our trip to Yokohama History Museum’s Otsuka-Saikachido Relics Park near Center-Kita station in Yokohama, Japan. This is part of the Museum’s exhibit but is free for all who wants to enjoy the park. Just look at the colors of autumn in this place 🙂 Fabulous and colorful trees.

This is the entrance part of the park. Adjacent to the Museum is the Otsuka-Saikachido Relics Park which preserves and reconstructs the Yayoi-period moated village with pit houses and the village cemetery (designated as National Historic Sites).

The park is wide and the autumn colors are very nice, my photos did not give any justice at all. Some information from their brochure: It started with archaeological surveys of the Otsuka-Saikachido remains here for the construction of the Kohoku New Town residential district, which lasted from 1970 to 1989. The Saikachido Site served as a cemetery for the Otsuka village, and the orderly row of tombs show that they were made according to a plan.

This is considered an important group of sites for investigating prehistory and ancient history of Japan.

This is an old farmer’s house dating from the middle-late Edo period. According from the brochure guide, “The Former Nagasawa Family House is estimated to have been built in the middle of the Edo Period, in the late 1700s. It was originally located about 1 km north of the Yokohama History Museum. With the development of the Kohoku New Town, it was dismantled in 1979 and reconstructed at the present location in 1997. Because the house was one of the oldest private houses still standing in Yokohama, and its owner a local leader, the City of Yokohama designated it a Tangible Cultural Property in November 1997.”

We stayed a little bit at the wide space near the old house. It also has a playground for Ate Rei and Sai to do climbs and slides. Sai is also happy playing around the fallen autumn leaves. 🙂

These are some photos of the wide area, rich with colorful trees. These are all surrounding the Saikachido Site. Remains of the Otsuka villager’s cemetery with square ditch-enclosed tombs. The tombs and the excavation site with a wooden coffin are reconstructed.

This is the Otsuka Site. Remains of a Yayoi-period settlement dating back to 2000 years ago, where 7 pit houses, a raised-floor storehouse, and a wooden bridge are reconstructed. I was not able to take photos of what’s inside as it was completely dark. Here is Ate Rei, running out of the old house, afraid of the dark and the stink (just a little stink) 🙂

From visiting the old houses, we are now heading back to Center-Kita stations for some snacks. That was a quick and fun visit at the Yokohama History Museum’s Otsuka-Saikachido Relics Park. 🙂 This is just near our place (20 minute bus ride) so we will soon be back!