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  • Seikado Bunko Art Museum

Seikado Bunko Art Museum

  • Photo by Keizo Kioku

  • Seikado was founded in 1892 (Meiji 25) by Yanosuke Iwasaki, the second President of Mitsubishi, and then expanded by his eldest son Koyata, the fourth President. It is home to roughly 200,000 volumes of classical Japanese and Chinese texts, including seven National Treasures, and 84 Important Cultural Properties, as well as around 6,500 antique items from the Orient.

    This new art museum, Seikado Bunko Art Museum, has opened in Marunouchi, a place with strong ties to Mitsubishi. Visitors can see firsthand and up close the National Treasure “Yohen Tenmoku (Inaba Tenmoku)”, as well as ceramic works, paintings, tea ceremony utensils, swords sculptures, and other works of art in an expansive range of genres and styles.

Exhibitions & Events

  • 190 Years Since the Birth of Toyohara Kunichika
    Kabuki Prints:
    First Exhibition of Treasured Ukiyo-e Prints

    Exhibition Period
    January 25, 2025 (Sat) - March 23, 2025 (Sun)
    [First term] January 25 (Sat) - February 24 (Mon/makeup holiday)
    [Second term] February 26 (Wed) - March 23 (Sun)

    Along with bijinga (portraits of beautiful women), yakusha-e (portraits of Kabuki actors) is a sub-genre of ukiyo-e. This exhibition explores the history of yakusha-e from the early days of ukiyo-e up to nishiki-e (multi-colored woodblock printing) from the Meiji period with only works from the Seikado collection, starting with the masterpiece of early modern genre painting, the "Kabuki-zu Byobu". The final years of the Tokugawa Shogunate to the Meiji period represented the mature period of ukiyo-e, and in the kabuki world, the era of "Dankikusa" (expression used for the triumvirate of young Meiji era actors). The exhibition will feature more than 10 works, including "Shibaimachi Shin Yoshiwara Fuzoku Kan," a collection of original paintings by Kunisada, a leading ukiyo-e artist, and "Nishiki-e cho" by Kunisada and his disciple, Sharaku from the Meiji period. Please enjoy the "Nishiki-e cho" that Sanae (1857-1929), wife of Yanosuke Iwasaki (1851-1908), the second president of Mitsubishi, loved and cherished, which look as if they were printed in the present day.

  • Now
    on
    display

    Actors Yamashita Kinsaku as Naniwazu, Ichikawa Danjuro II as Sano Genzaemon, and Matsumoto Koshiro as Aoto Saemon, by Torii Kiyomasu II; Kyoho 8 (1723)、Actors Mimasu Tokujiro as Yugiri, Matsumoto Koshiro IV as Fujiya Izaemon, with chanters and accompanist, by Torii Kiyonaga; Tenmei era (1781-1789)

    <Left>"Actors Yamashita Kinsaku as Naniwazu, Ichikawa Danjuro II as Sano Genzaemon, and Matsumoto Koshiro as Aoto Saemon," by Torii Kiyomasu II; Kyoho 8 (1723)
    <Right>"Actors Mimasu Tokujiro as Yugiri, Matsumoto Koshiro IV as Fujiya Izaemon, with chanters and accompanist," by Torii Kiyonaga; Tenmei era (1781-1789)

Museum Information

  • Hours

    10:00 - 17:00
    *Open until 18:00 on Saturdays, also open at night on some occasions
    (Entry until 30 minutes before closing time)

    Closed

    Mondays (open if a holiday and closed on the following weekday)
    Exhibition change periods, the year-end and New Year holidays, etc.
    *The museum is closed outside of exhibition periods. There are no permanent exhibitions.

    Admission

    Regular price: ¥1,500
    High school students: ¥1,000
    Disability certificate holders: ¥700 (free admission for 1 accompanying person)
    Junior high school students and younger: Free
    *Priority given to visitors with date & time reservations. Same-day tickets are also available.

  • Museum

Museum Shop

Museum Shop

The Museum Shop is attached directly to the museum and sells original products featuring designs inspired by works from Seikado Bunko Art Museum’s collection, exhibition catalogs, and more.
You are also welcome to visit the shop without entering the museum itself.
*Shop hours are based on the opening hours of the museum.

  • Interior

    Interior
  • Exterior

    Exterior

What is Seikado?

  • Seikado, which is celebrating the 130th anniversary of its founding, has relocated its art gallery from the Okamoto district of Setagaya to the first floor of Meiji Seimeikan (completed in 1934 (Showa 9), National Important Cultural Property located in Marunouchi alongside the Imperial Palace moat.
    The works beckon visitors with their mutually complementary beauty in four exhibition rooms face each other in a way that surrounds the foyer (atrium in the central lobby), where natural light shines in through skylights in the high ceiling, in a space with stately beauty that makes generous use of marble in a manner typical of the contemporary stylings of the early Showa Era.
    In the middle of the third decade of the Meiji Era, Yanosuke Iwasaki was working on a project to build a district of Mitsubishi office buildings in Marunouchi, with the hopes of creating a “museum” in one corner of the area. The dream of the founders, held for more than 100 years, are now coming to fruition.
  • Yanosuke Iwasaki

    Yanosuke Iwasaki

    Koyata Iwasaki

    Koyata Iwasaki

    Exterior of Seikado Bunko in Okamoto, Setagaya

Prominent Works

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