Susami Town History and Folklore Museum is a local history museum in Susami Town, Nishimuro District, Wakayama Prefecture. The museum is located within the grounds of the historic Susami Oji Shrine and preserves a wide range of materials related to the town’s daily life, traditional industries, maritime transportation, and cultural heritage.
For visitors who want to understand the history of Susami beyond its beautiful coastline, the museum provides an excellent introduction to the people and industries that have shaped the town over the centuries.
During the Edo period (1603–1868), Susami was an important port town on the southern coast of the Kii Peninsula. Ships traveling through the rough waters of the Kumano Sea on routes toward major commercial centers such as Osaka and Edo frequently stopped at Susami.
Susami Port served as a place where sailors could wait for favorable winds and tides, as well as a refuge during difficult weather. The port is believed to have been bustling with sailors, merchants, and other travelers involved in maritime transportation.
The museum preserves important evidence of this maritime past, including a remarkable collection of votive tablets, or ema, dedicated to Susami Oji Shrine.
More than 50 ema dating from the late Edo period through the Meiji period are associated with the shrine. Many are ship ema depicting traditional Japanese vessels. These were dedicated by people praying for safe voyages and protection at sea, making them valuable historical records of the ships and maritime culture of the time.
The first floor focuses largely on fishing and the maritime industries that played an important role in Susami’s development.
Among the exhibits are models of boats and fishing equipment used for Kenken fishing, a traditional method of catching bonito. Visitors can also see diving suits, pearl shells, and other objects that illustrate the close relationship between local communities and the ocean.
These materials offer an insight into the skills and technologies that supported Susami’s fishing communities before modern equipment transformed the industry.
The museum also preserves materials relating to people from Susami who migrated to Thursday Island in Australia.
These exhibits provide a fascinating glimpse into the international connections created by the town’s fishing and maritime communities. They demonstrate that Susami’s history was not limited to the local coastline, but was also linked to communities and economic activities overseas.
The museum also displays archaeological materials excavated from the Kamimiyama Kofun, an ancient burial mound associated with the early history of southern Kii.
These artifacts allow visitors to explore the history of Susami from a much earlier period, showing that the region has been home to established communities for many centuries.
The second floor contains materials related to agriculture, forestry, historical documents, and traditional household life.
Many everyday tools and objects were donated by local residents. Looking at these items provides a vivid impression of how people once lived and worked in Susami.
Simple farming tools, household objects, and traditional equipment may seem ordinary at first glance, but together they tell the story of the daily lives of generations of local people.
The museum stands beside Susami Oji Shrine, making the two sites particularly valuable to visit together.
Susami Oji Shrine is a historic shrine traditionally said to have been established in 1546. The shrine has strong connections with the religious traditions of Kumano, and its sacred object is traditionally associated with Eleven-Headed Kannon, reflecting the historical tradition of Shinto-Buddhist syncretism.
For centuries, local sailors and fishermen visited the shrine to pray for safe voyages and successful fishing. This tradition resulted in the dedication of numerous ema.
The collection of ship ema at Susami Oji Shrine is considered one of the largest of its kind in Wakayama Prefecture. These paintings provide valuable information about the development of traditional Japanese sailing vessels and maritime transportation around the waters of Kumano.
In addition to ship paintings, the collection includes ema depicting Japanese myths, theatrical scenes, animals, famous places, and everyday customs.
There are also sangaku, mathematical tablets on which mathematical problems were dedicated to the shrine. Together, these diverse objects reveal the religious beliefs, artistic interests, entertainment, education, and everyday concerns of people in earlier generations.
Every year on October 9, Susami Oji Shrine holds its lively autumn festival.
The festival includes prayers for abundant harvests, successful fishing, safe voyages, and the safety and prosperity of local families. Festival floats and portable shrines travel through the town, accompanied by traditional performances including shishi kagura, or sacred lion dancing.
One of the most distinctive elements of the festival is shio-gori, a purification ritual in which the portable shrine enters the sea.
This dramatic ceremony reflects the identity of Susami as a coastal community. The ocean has provided food and livelihoods for generations, while also presenting dangers to fishermen and sailors. Entering the sea as part of the festival expresses both gratitude for the blessings of the ocean and prayers for protection.
During the festival, the entire town takes on a lively atmosphere. The event is an excellent opportunity to see how traditional beliefs and customs continue to be passed from one generation to the next.
A visit to the museum is particularly rewarding when combined with sightseeing around Susami. The exhibits help explain many aspects of the town that visitors can still see in the surrounding landscape.
The traditional fishing culture represented by the Kenken fishing equipment is connected to Susami’s famous bonito fishing. The ship ema reflect the importance of Susami Port as a stopping point for vessels traveling along the Kii coast.
The materials relating to Thursday Island, meanwhile, show how local fishermen and residents developed connections with communities far beyond Japan.
In this way, the museum presents Susami not simply as a small coastal town, but as a community whose history has always been shaped by movement, trade, fishing, and contact with the wider world.
The Susami Town History and Folklore Museum is approximately a 10-minute walk from JR Susami Station.
By car, it takes approximately 5 minutes from Susami Interchange on the Kisei Expressway, making the museum a convenient stop for travelers exploring southern Wakayama by car.
The museum is open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and admission is free.
Susami Town History and Folklore Museum is an excellent place to learn about the history of a community that has lived alongside the sea for centuries.
Its exhibits range from fishing boats and traditional equipment to ship ema, archaeological artifacts, historical documents, and materials documenting overseas migration. Together, they reveal the diverse history of Susami and the people who built their lives around the ocean.
Visiting the museum together with Susami Oji Shrine provides an especially meaningful experience. The shrine reveals the spiritual side of the community, while the museum preserves tangible evidence of its everyday life and industries.
For travelers interested in Japanese history, traditional culture, maritime heritage, or the quieter destinations of Wakayama, this small museum offers a fascinating opportunity to discover the story behind Susami’s beautiful coastal scenery.
Here, the history of fishermen, sailors, merchants, farmers, craftsmen, and local families comes together, revealing how generations of people have lived alongside the sea and built the unique culture of southern Wakayama.