Until the Meiji and Taisho eras, there were remnants of Edo in downtown Tokyo. However, the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and the war damage of 1945 left almost no trace of the Edo period. After the war, the area underwent a remarkable recovery, and especially in the late 1950s, the area underwent a complete transformation as redevelopment was aggressively promoted with the Tokyo Olympics as an impetus.

People’s lifestyles also changed with the times, and instead of adopting convenience, the important things of the old days were being forgotten.

It was in the 1965’s that people began to voice their concern over the loss of the good old downtown culture. This gradually spread among people who loved the downtown area, and eventually, the idea of establishing a museum to pass on the important memories of the downtown area, the history of the common people, to the next generation was born.

To make this happen, many valuable materials were donated from inside and outside of Taito City.

After many years of hard work, the Taito City Shitamachi Museum of Folklore was opened on October 1, 1980, right next to Shinobazunoike Pond. The first floor features a life-size reproduction of a Taisho period merchant house and row houses, while the second floor contains materials related to Taito City and a toy corner.