Orugoru no Chiisana Hakubutsukan
Encyclopedia
Mechanical
Mechanical may refer to:* Mechanical engineering, a branch of engineering concerned with the application of physical mechanics* HVAC , the mechanical systems of a building...
musical instrument
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
s, located in Bunkyo-ku in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
. It houses the private collection of Yoshihito Namura.
The museum was the first of its kind in Japan when it opened in May 1983. The current building was erected in 2003.
"Orugoru no Chiisana Hakubutsukan" offers an overview of the development of mechanical musical reproducers which were made from the end of the 18th to the 20th century.
Visitors experience demonstrations of antique musical devices accompanied by scholarly explanation.
About The Museum
- Museum course (5F&6F)
(By advance reservation only. (15 persons max.))
- Let's begin the tour. In the permanent exhibition room, please enjoy the sound of various music boxes. In the changing exhibition room, you can have the chance to meet unusual music boxes. And you will have a rare experience that your body will feel the vibration of the sound of the music box directly. In the cafe you can listen to the music by “reproducing piano” which revives the music of former famous pianists.
- Tour times : 11:00a.m, 2:00p.m, 4:00p.m
- Admission : 2,000yen
- Concert course (1F)
- The magnificent sound. Please sit on a comfortable chair in the music hall, and enjoy the concert. You can enjoy the music by the mechanical musical instruments such as the disk music boxes, the cylinder music boxes, the organs, automata, and repuroducing pianos. The staff will explain about them happily with explanation of their background.
- Tour times : １:00ｐm, 3:00p.m
- Admission : General 1300yen adult / 600yen children
- Group : 1100yen adult / 500yen children(groups of 20 or more)
- Museum Shop ((1F&2F)
- Open 10:30-18:00
- Closed
- Sundays, Mondays and New Year's vacation
Collections
- Cylinder Musical boxMusical boxA music box is a 19th century automatic musical instrument that produces sounds by the use of a set of pins placed on a revolving cylinder or disc so as to pluck the tuned teeth of a steel comb. They were developed from musical snuff boxes of the 18th century and called carillons à musique...
: Paillard Sublime Harmonie Piccolo Systeme Plerodienique, ca.1890, Swiss - Disc Musical boxMusical boxA music box is a 19th century automatic musical instrument that produces sounds by the use of a set of pins placed on a revolving cylinder or disc so as to pluck the tuned teeth of a steel comb. They were developed from musical snuff boxes of the 18th century and called carillons à musique...
：Symphonion Changer Style120S, ca.1900, German - AutomatonAutomatonAn automaton is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot. An alternative spelling, now obsolete, is automation.-Etymology:...
：Lambert Turkish Smoker, ca.1890, French - Street organStreet organA street organ is a mechanical organ designed to play in the street. The operator of a street organ is called an organ grinder. The two main types are the smaller German street organ and the larger Dutch street organ....
: Bacigalupo, ca.1900, German - Player pianoPlayer pianoA player piano is a self-playing piano, containing a pneumatic or electro-mechanical mechanism that operates the piano action via pre-programmed music perforated paper, or in rare instances, metallic rolls. The rise of the player piano grew with the rise of the mass-produced piano for the home in...
：Steinway & SonsSteinway & SonsSteinway & Sons, also known as Steinway , is an American and German manufacturer of handmade pianos, founded 1853 in Manhattan in New York City by German immigrant Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg...
Duo-ArtDuo-ArtDuo-Art was one of the leading reproducing piano technologies of the early 20th century, the others being American Piano Company , introduced in 1913 too, and Welte-Mignon in 1905. These technologies flourished at that time because of the poor quality of the early Phonograph...
, ca.1920, American, Aeolian Company - Musical clockMusical clockA Musical clock is a clock that marks the hours of the day with a musical tune played from a spiked cylinder either on bells, organ pipes, bellows, combs and even dulcimer strings....
:Musical Bracket Clock, ca.1790, England, Robt Hughs