Okura Museum of Art (大倉集古館, Ōkura Shūkokan) is a museum in Tokyo, Japan.[1]
Okura Museum of Art 大倉集古館 | |
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Alternative names | Ōkura Shūkokan |
General information | |
Address | 2-10-3 Toranomon |
Town or city | Minato, Tokyo |
Country | Japan |
Coordinates | 35°40′1″N 139°44′36″E / 35.66694°N 139.74333°E |
Opened | August 1917 / October 1928 |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Itō Chūta |
Architecture firm | Ōkura Doboku |
Website | |
shukokan |
The museum opened in Toranomon, Tokyo in 1917 to house the collection of pre-modern Japanese and East-Asian Art amassed since the Meiji Restoration by industrialist Ōkura Kihachirō. The museum collection includes some 2,500 works, among which are three National Treasures and twelve Important Cultural Properties.[2]
The museum is located within the grounds of the Hotel Okura Tokyo. Closed for renovation since April 1, 2014,[2] the museum reopened alongside the rebuilt hotel in 2019.
The Okura Museum of Art was the first private museum in Japan.[3][4] The museum and all the exhibits on display were destroyed in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake although works then in storage survived.[5] The exhibition hall was rebuilt in 1927 by leading architect and architectural historian Itō Chūta and is a Registered Cultural Property.[5][6] The museum collection was subsequently augmented by the founder's son, Ōkura Kishichirō.[2]
The three National Treasures in the collection are a Heian-period wooden statue of Samantabhadra (Fugen Bosatsu in Japanese) riding on an elephant;[7][8] a scroll painting Imperial Guard Cavalry (Zuijin Teiki Emaki in Japanese) dating to 1247;[9] and a copy of the preface to the Kokinshū attributed to Minamoto no Shunrai.[10] Losses in the 1923 earthquake include one of the dry lacquer statue group of the Ten Great Disciples of which six survive at Kōfuku-ji (National Treasures).[8]