Sekigahara Battlefield Memorial Museum

On October 21, 1600, over 160,000 samurai clashed on these fields in the decisive battle that established the Tokugawa shogunate and shaped Japan for the next 260 years. Today the open farmland is dotted with stone monuments marking the positions of each army's commanders. The excellent Sekigahara Battlefield Memorial Museum brings the tactics to life with maps and dioramas. Rent a bicycle to cover the widely spread sites, it's the best way to appreciate the scale of the engagement and visit the hilltop where Tokugawa Ieyasu directed the battle.