Former the headquarters of 9th Army Division and Former Kanazawa Kaikosha
I visited Kanazawa City at the end of May and went to the Ishikawa Prefectural Museum. Next to the museum area was a construction site and a protective wall had been erected. On the wall, there was a picture like this.
This is the former the headquarters of 9th Army Division building and the former Kanazawa Kaikosha.
I had made pop-up cards of these two in the past (the headquarters of 9th Army Division, and former Kanazawa Kaikosha), so I knew about the buildings, but I had not checked recently how they are now.
It seems that they are going to be relocated.
After returning home, I confirmed that it had been decided in 2016 that the Crafts Museum of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo would be relocated to Kanazawa City. The plan is to move the former headquarters of the 9th Army Division and the former Kanazawa Kaikosha to the new location and use them as the Crafts Gallery of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.
I later learned that the Ishikawa prefectural government had organized tours of the museum on May 19 and 20, just one week before I visited. I wish I could have seen it. It’s a pity.
From the Ishikawa Prefecture website: “Result of the tour” (written in Japanese)
There is a page like this on Ishikawa Prefecture’s website with photos of the day’s activities. Moreover, they have even posted the materials distributed on the day of the event in pdf format. (There is a link in the page.)
According to that document, the building will be relocated and restored this year, and the building will be completed in the fall of 2019. After a “aging period” until the exhibition rooms and storerooms are in an appropriate environment, the museum aims to open in 2020 (during the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics).
The former 9th Division headquarters was a small building with both wings truncated when it was moved in 1968, but the truncated portion will be restored and returned to its original size.
As for Kaikosha, the auditorium at the rear of the building will be restored.
I did not know any details on the day of my visit, but I only took pictures from the adjacent Noh Theater.
The blue signboard read “Relocation and Improvement Work of the Crafts Museum of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (Former Kanazawa Kaikosha of the Army)”. There is another small blue sign in the back, which reads “(Former Headquarters Building of the 9th Army Division).
Still, it is a pity that I missed the tour by a week (though the application deadline was May 7). I will go see the museum when it opens.
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“Former Kanazawa Kaikosha" (2025-06-03)