Maidstone Museum is housed in a beautiful Elizabethan manor house. Founded in 1858, the museum has grown to accommodate an inspiring collection which focuses on human history, natural history and the fine and decorative arts. Amongst the museums highlights are a 2,500 year old Egyptian Mummy, Anglo-Saxon jewellery and Japanese art.

The Japanese collections were founded on the gifts and bequests of two local collectors; the Hon. Henry Marsham (1908) and the Hon. Walter Samuel (1923-4). The collections amount to 3,000 items and include approximately 700 woodblock prints, printed books, a comprehensive collection of sword-fittings (tsuba, kozuka, kogai, fuchi-kashira), lacquer (including inro, boxes and suzuribako), carving and figural pieces (including bronzes, netsuke and okimono), other metalwork (including incense burners, vases and religious objects), ceramics (including porcelain and stoneware with an interesting selection of incense boxes), personal accessories, small items of nineteenth century furniture, and many other miscellaneous objects.