Mitsui Memorial Museum

Opened in 2005. This collection is a precious part of Japanese cultural heritage, with masterful works of art from Japan and Asia, collected by the Mitsui family throughout its 350-year history beginning in the Edo period (1603 to 1868). The number of pieces owned by the museum is approximately 4,000 as of 2017, plus 130 thousand stamps, 6 national treasures including ”Yukimatsu-zu Byobu” (The Folding Screen of Pine Trees in the Snow) and the Shino-Chawan Unohanagaki tea bowl, 75 Important Cultural Properties, and 4 art treasures. Works of art at the museum are highly diverse and include tea ceremony implements, paintings, calligraphy, swords, Noh masks and costumes, and furniture. The Mitsui Memorial Museum is located in the Mitsui Main Building, which itself is an important example of Western-style architecture erected in the early Showa era (1926 to 1989), designated an Important Cultural Property by the Japanese government. The exhibition galleries include a detailed reconstruction of the interior of the Joan tea ceremony room, a National Treasure tea ceremony room long related to the Mitsui family. The ”beauty of functionality” in the selection of tea ceremony utensils is contrasted with the display of Japanese and Asian art works in a Western architectural setting. These galleries will allow visitors to rediscover the ”beauty of form.” Viewers will be encouraged to explore the true meaning of art and culture.