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Chitei no Mori Museum

Tomizawa sitepalaeolithicSendaiburied forestarchaeology

Miyagi · Sendai

38.2229°N, 140.8728°E

In 1988, digging for a new school in the Tomizawa district of Sendai, archaeologists found a forest floor from twenty thousand years ago: about a hundred tree stumps and roots still in place, and among them the charcoal of campfires left by people of the palaeolithic. Waterlogged ground had preserved the wood.

The museum was built over the excavation and the floor is the exhibit — you look down at the actual surface, stumps, fires and all, in a darkened hall. Nowhere else in Japan shows a palaeolithic living surface with its landscape intact. Outside, a section of the site has been replanted with the species identified from the pollen record. Note that a major refurbishment is scheduled to close it from 31 August 2026 until around March 2029.

Essential Information

Opening Hours

9:00 AM – 4:45 PM | Last admission 4:15 PM

Closed: Closed Mondays and the day after public holidays | Closed the fourth Thursday from January to November | Closed 28 December – 4 January | Closed for refurbishment from 31 August 2026 to around March 2029

Entrance Fee

¥460 adults | ¥230 high school students | ¥110 elementary and junior high school students

Best Season

Year-round

Visit Duration

60–90 minutes

Getting There

Access Information

Nagamachi-Minami 4-3-1, Taihaku-ku, Sendai, about 5 minutes on foot from Tomizawa Station on the Sendai Subway Namboku Line. Open 9:00 AM – 4:45 PM with last admission at 4:15 PM. Closed Mondays, or the following day when the Monday is a public holiday; the day after a public holiday, unless that is a Saturday, Sunday or holiday; the fourth Thursday from January to November unless it is a holiday; and 28 December – 4 January. Admission ¥460 for adults, ¥230 for high school students and ¥110 for elementary and junior high school students, with group rates for 30 or more and concessions. A major refurbishment is scheduled to close the museum from 31 August 2026 until around the end of March 2029 — confirm before travelling.

Insider Guide

Premium

**Check whether it is open.** A refurbishment is scheduled to close it from 31 August 2026 to around March 2029. Confirm before making the trip. **The floor is the exhibit.** A twenty-thousand-year-old forest surface with stumps and campfires in situ, viewed from above in a darkened hall. There is no comparable display in Japan. **The rest days are complicated.** Mondays, the day after a public holiday, and the fourth Thursday from January to November. Read the rules rather than assuming. **Go outside afterwards.** A section of ground has been replanted with the species identified from the pollen, so you can walk through a reconstruction of the same forest. **Five minutes from the subway.** Tomizawa on the Namboku Line, which makes it one of the easiest museums in Sendai to reach.

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