Akita Inland · AniNo.552★★Open in map →
Ani Matagi Museum
— Bear-hunting culture of the Akita mountains
A small museum of Matagi hunting culture, deep in the Ani valley of northern Akita. Guns, snowshoes, winter clothing and mounted animals sit beside the hot-spring inn they share a building with, at the end of a single-track rail line.
- FromKakunodate Station
- ~55 minAkita Nairiku Line, a few trains a day
- Get off atAni-Matagi Station (Akita Nairiku Line)
- From there
- Ani Matagi Museum
The sweet spot
This is not a hidden find so much as a distant one. It sits on a single-track line with only a handful of trains a day, and the museum is a short drive further on from an unstaffed halt, so almost nobody arrives here by accident.
Where it is
34 more notes in Akita · open the map →What to look for — in walking order
- Ani-Matagi Stationan unstaffed halt with a waiting shelter and no station building, named for the hunters
- Guns and hunting toolsthe firearms and gear carried on bear hunts through the snow country
- Matagi clothingthe dress worn for working winter slopes, shown with everyday household equipment
- Mounts, dioramas and filmtaxidermy from the surrounding forest, with dioramas and short films on how a hunt ran
- Utto Onsen Matagi no Yuthe hot-spring inn sharing the site, run by the same company as the museum
How to actually get there
- Kakunodate Station → Ani-Matagi Station (Akita Nairiku Line, ~55 min).
- Telephone Utto Onsen Matagi no Yu ahead; their free shuttle meets you at the station.
- Pay at the desk and work through the cases, starting with the hunting gear.
- Check the return departure before you settle in — trains here are few.
- Akita Nairiku Line from Kakunodate
- Kakunodate Station →(Akita Nairiku Line, ~55 min)→ Ani-Matagi Station. Kakunodate is a stop on the Akita Shinkansen and the local trains connect with it, but only a handful run each day, so fix your train before you set out.
- Return from Ani-Matagi Station
- Ani-Matagi is an unstaffed halt with a shelter and no ticket window. Trains run north to Takanosu for the JR Ou Line and south back to Kakunodate. Read the departure board when you arrive, because the gaps between services are long and there is nowhere to wait indoors nearby.
About the place
The Matagi are the hunters of the Ou mountains, who followed bear through deep snow under their own code and their own beliefs. The museum at Ani sets out what they carried: hunting guns and tools, the clothing worn on winter slopes, and mounted animals from the forests around. Dioramas and short films fill in how a hunt was organised and how the households lived between seasons. The building stands with Utto Onsen Matagi no Yu, the hot-spring inn it shares a site with, in a hamlet up the Utto river. Few places set this tradition out as a public collection at all.
How to enjoy it
The museum keeps 9:00 to 17:00, and the room is small enough to read without hurrying. Booked ahead, a working Matagi will take you round and talk through the hunt, and snowshoe walking is offered in the cold months. Add the hot spring next door and a stop becomes an afternoon.
Background & history
Matagi hunting was a livelihood rather than a sport, bound by rules about what could be taken and by beliefs addressed to the mountain. Ani, now part of Kitaakita, is one of the districts where the practice held on longest, and the name still marks the local railway station. The collection was gathered in the valley itself and is kept by the company that also runs the hot spring beside it.
Before you go
- Cash
- Admission is 200 yen for adults and 100 yen for children, and guests staying at Utto Onsen Matagi no Yu enter free. Bring cash: this is a small private railway and a mountain hamlet, not a card-friendly stretch of road.
- Before you go
- The museum keeps 9:00 to 17:00. Winter here is deep in snow and the mountain programmes change with the season. The path to Ana-no-taki waterfall nearby is closed and bookings for it have been suspended.
- Another way
- From the north, pick up the Akita Nairiku Line at Takanosu on the JR Ou Line and ride south through the Ani valley instead of coming up from Kakunodate.
- After you get off
- Ani-Matagi Station sits away from the museum, further up the Utto river, and it is not a short walk. Telephone Utto Onsen in advance and their free shuttle bus will come to the station forecourt for you.