Alternative names Ōkura Shūkokan Country Japan Architecture firm Taisei Corporation | Town or city Minato, Tokyo Phone +81 3-3583-0781 Architect Itō Chūta | |
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Opened August 1917 / October 1928 Address 2 Chome-10-3 Toranomon, Minato, Tokyo 105-0001, Japan Similar Hotel Okura Tokyo, Kikuchikanjitsukinentomo Museum, Hatakeyama Memorial Museum, Tokyo National Museum, Setagaya Art Museum | ||
Okura Museum of Art (大倉集古館, Ōkura Shūkokan) is a museum in Tokyo, Japan.
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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.
The museum is located within the grounds of the Hotel Okura Tokyo. It has been closed for renovation since April 1, 2014.
History
The Okura Museum of Art was the first private museum in Japan. The museum and all the exhibits on display were destroyed in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake although works then in storage survived. The exhibition hall was rebuilt in 1927 by leading architect and architectural historian Itō Chūta and is a Registered Cultural Property. The museum collection was subsequently augmented by the founder's son, Ōkura Kishichirō.
Collection
The three National Treasures in the collection are a Heian-period wooden statue of Samantabhadra (Fugen Bosatsu in Japanese) riding on an elephant; a scroll painting Imperial Guard Cavalry dating to 1247; and a copy of the preface to the Kokinshū attributed to Minamoto no Shunrai. 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).