[Celebrating 30th Place] The Cool Horse Guy Earned 157 Votes! Museum Zodiac Collection Award 2026: Horse

The Kiyose City Local History Museum is participating for the first time in the “Museum Zodiac Collection Award 2026: Horse,” a competition in which collections related to the zodiac, held by museums across the country, compete through a voting system.

Out of a total of 117 entries, the “Jikuchi Andon” from the Kiyose City Local History Museum received 157 votes and ranked 30th!!!

Amidst all the wonderful horse-related items—from art pieces to skeletal specimens —I’d like to extend my sincere thanks to everyone who voted for this incredibly stylish “Horse Samurai” lantern!

You can view the wonderful messages of support below.

Here are the messages of support we received!

What is a "Jiguchi Andon"?

This is a paper lantern featuring illustrations inspired by “jiguchi” (wordplay created by rephrasing song lyrics to create puns or wordplay).

For example, “Okame hachimaki” comes from “Okame hachimaki,” and “Where there is joy, there is sorrow” comes from “Where there is a corner, there is a path.”

The lantern in the photo bears the inscription “Uma no Bushi (Samurai) or Katou Bushi,” but the original term has been lost.

These lanterns are displayed at various festivals held in Kiyose City, and come in a wide variety of designs.

By the way, this lantern depicting a horse is the only one of its kind in the museum’s collection. It’s a truly rare piece!