Yamatane Museum of Art was founded in 1966 by Taneji Yamazaki who has donated his numerous collection of Japanese art.　The ex-chairman of the Yamatane Art Foundation, Tomiji Yamazaki collected 105 works of Hayami Gyoshu known as one of the most respected Japanese artists among scholars and collectors.

The Museum displays 6 to 7 exhibitions throughout the year by selecting paintings according to the respective topics. The collection mainly focuses on Kindai Nihonga (Modern Japanese paintings after Meiji era). The Museum also has collections of oil paintings, Ukiyoe, and Ancient Japanese Calligraphy. The wide variety and the level of the collection has a very high reputation among experts in Japan.

In 2007, as we faced the 40th anniversary, we staged the exhibition of “The Best Selection of Yamatane Museum of Art” from April 12 to July 16 （First Term Apr. 12-Jun.3, Second Term　Jun.6-Jul.16）. In this exhibition we displayed works of the Japanese-painting masters such as Yokoyama Taikan, Kobayashi Kokei, Hayami Gyoshu, Murakami Kagaku, Uemura Shōen, Okumura Togyu, Higashiyama Kaii, Kayama Matazo etc. The collection has many splendid paintings and a few of them has been designated as Important Cultural Properties which happens to be very rare for modern Japanese paintings.

The Museum does not exhibit the collection on permanent basis, due to the weak nature of Nihonga being easily affected by the environment. Paintings are replaced about 7-8 times a year based on respective topics to allow visitors to see as many collections as possible each year.

Please visit our museum and make your first step into the magnificent world of Nihonga.

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	3-12-36 Hiroo, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0012, Tel: 03-5777-8600 (Hello Dial, English available)
	10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (Last Admission at 4:30 p.m.)
	Mondays (closed on the day after a national holiday), December 28 - January 4, and closed for exhibition installations. Call to confirm schedules.
	Regular Exhibitions: Adults: 1,000 [800] yen, University and high school students: 800 [700] yen, Middle school and younger children: free of charge *Figures in brackets are for groups of 20 or more. *Disability ID Holders and one person accompanying them are admitted free of charge. *This exhibition admission fee is different from that of the Museum's regular exhibition.
	10-minute walk from the West Exit of JR Ebisu Station and from Exit 2 of Ebisu Station on the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line. ■ From Shibuya Station, East Exit: Take Toei Bus (Metropolitan Bus): “Gaku 03” service bound for Nisseki Medical Center (Japanese Red Cross Medical Center) and get off at “Higashi 4-chome”stop (2 minute walk from the bus stop). Bus stop ① is where you disembark, and ② is where you embark. ■ From Ebisu Station, West Exit: Take Toei Bus (Metropolitan Bus): “Gaku 06” service bound for Nisseki Medical Center (Japanese Red Cross Medical Center) and get off at “Hiroo Kōkō (Hiroo high school) Mae” stop. Bus stops ③ is where you disembark, and ④ is where you embark.

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The Museum has a collection of over 1800 works including four Important Cultural Properties which is very rare for modern Japanese paintings. They include Hayami Gyoshu’s "Dancing in the Flames", "Falling Camellias", Takeuchi Seiho’s "Tabby Cat" and Tsubaki Chinzan’s "View of Mt. Kuno", and 18 Important Art Objects such as Iwasa Matabei’s "Court Lady Enjoying Wayside Chrisanthemums" and Sakai Houitsu’s "Autumn Plants and Quails", which are special works of Edo Period and other masterpieces.

The museum's collection is also well known for the number of works by Okumura Togyu, such as "Maelsroms in Naruto" and "Cherry Blossoms at Daigoji Temple", Yokoyama Taikan’s "Sakuemon’s House", Kobayashi Kokei’s "Scenes from the Tale of Kiyohime", Uemura Shōen’s "Scene from a Noh Play Kinuta" and Murakami Kagaku’s "Woman in the Nude".

click thumbnail to enlarge

Iwasa Matabei
"Court Lady Enjoying Wayside Chrysanthemums"

Sakai Houitsu
"Autumn Plants and Quails"

Tsubaki Chinzan
"View of Mt. Kunozan"
(Important Cultural Property)

Takeuchi Seiho
"Tabby Cat"

Yokoyama Taikan
"Sakuemon’s House"

Uemura Shōen
"Scene from a Noh Play Kinuta"

Kobayashi Kokei
"Scenes from the Tale of Kiyohime"

Murakami Kagaku
"Woman in the Nude"

Okumura Togyu
"Naruto Maelstroms"

Okumura Togyu
"Cherry Blossoms at Daigo-ji Temple"

Hayami Gyoshu
"Dancing in the Flames"
(Important Cultural Property)

Hayami Gyoshu
"Camellia Petals Scattering"
(Important Cultural Property)

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Exhibition	Periods
In 2009-2010 (After opening of the new museum in October)
Taikan in the East vs. Seihō in the West	6 February – 28 March
The 120th Anniversary of Okumura Togyū	3 April – 23 May
Gateway to Ukiyoe: The Entire Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaidô Road by Utagawa Hiroshige	29 May – 11 July
Considering Edo Painting – Commemorating the 2008 Designation of “Court Ladies Enjoying Wayside Chrysanthemums” by Iwasa Matabei as a new Important Cultural Property –	17 July – 5 September

*Titles and dates of exhibitions are correct as of December, 2009. These are tentative and may be changed. Please contact the Museum or check the Museum’s web site for up-to-date information before your visit.

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Yokoyama Taikan and Takeuchi Seiho were often spoken about as "Taikan of the east (Tokyo) and Seiho of the west (Kyoto)". These two painters were heralded for their leading roles in the transformation of Nihonga from the Meiji period onwards. These two great giants of the Nihonga world were each leading figures in their respective Tokyo and Kyoto realms, and each had learned from two earlier major trends in Japanese painting, namely the Kano school and the Maruyama-Shijo school. They went on the play a major role at the respective major art schools of their regions, Tokyo Academy of Arts and the Kyoto Prefectural Painting School. These and other factors have led to frequent comparisons of these two men as individual painters and as leaders.

This exhibition features the oeuvres of these two men through the Meiji, Taisho and Showa eras as they strove to revolutionize Nihonga on the basis of the traditions of their respective districts, along with the works of artists in their immediate circles. The Tokyo painting circle section includes works by Taikan's teacher Hashimoto Gaho, his close friends Shimomura Kanzan and Hishida Shunsho, and works by such Inten (Japan Art Institute) group artists as Kobayashi Kokei, Yasuda Yukihiko and Maeda Seison. The Kyoto painting circle is represented by Kikuchi Keigetsu and members of Seiho's private academy group, the Chikujokai, such as Uemura Shoen and Nishimura Goun. Students from the Kyoto Prefectural Painting School, such as Murakami Kagaku and Fukuda Heihachiro, are also included in the display.

Two highlights of this exhibition are the Yen Province Scroll (overall length more than 17 meters) and the Chu Province Scroll (overall length more than 14 meters) by Taikan and today in the Yamatane collection. Rotation of works will occur during this exhibitions and the sections of the handscrolls on display will be changed. Based on Taikan’s approximately two months of travel in China that began in June 1910, the Chu Province Scroll was displayed in the 4th Bunten held in October 1910, and the Yen Province Scroll was completed in December of that year. These two works were Taikan's first experiments with a full ink painting handscroll format, and they are critical elements in the development to his later work Metempsychosis (1923, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo). Another popular painting from the Yamatane collection, Takeuchi Seiho's Tabby Cat (Important Cultural Property), is on display for the first time in two years. With fur fluffed up, the green-eyed cat gazes out at its viewer. The soft texture of the cat's fur, rendered in ink, gofun (shell white) and gold paint, seems almost touchable. We hope viewers will enjoy this close-up look at Seiho's infinitely fine brush work.

Taikan and Seiho: two painters active at the same time and yet creators of two completely different painterly realms. They each played a central role in modern era Nihonga circles. The works of these two men, along with those of their contemporaries in the eastern and western capitals of Japan, are brought together here to provide visitors with a wonderful opportunity to rediscover Nihonga in all of its guises.

Organized by: Yamatane Museum of Art and Nikkei Inc.

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The Yamatane Museum of Art is proud to present an exhibition featuring Okumura Togyu (1889-1990), in honor of the 120th anniversary of his birth in 2009.

At the age of 85, Togyu wrote the following in his book Ushi no ayumi:

"I will not forget the innocence of a beginner's heart from now until my death, I want to paint as long as I remain alive. While difficult, that is my wish, my way of being. Art is never complete. At some point it ends in a great unfinished state."

Togyu was born in February of 1889 (Meiji 22) in the Kyobashi district of Tokyo. At the age of 16 he entered the studio of Kajita Hanko, and there he set out to become a painter. Togyu's work centered primarily on the Inten exhibitions. While he learned a great deal from Yokoyama Taikan, Kobayashi Kokei, and Hayami Gyoshu, he continued to experiment with his own distinctive set of opposing elements, namely "western painting vs. Asian painting", "realism vs. impression", "line vs. plane," "color vs. ink", "three-dimensional vs. planar," fusing them into a distinctive artistic realm of his own. Togyu was a late bloomer, with his first admission (award) at the Inten exhibitions coming in his 38th year.

His artistic name Togyu comes from a line of poetry about the earth ox cultivating a stony field, thus implying that he was tenacious and stubborn in his continuing efforts. Togyu's artistic spirit was indeed tenacious, and he continued painting until right before his death just before he turned 101 years old.

Togyu's major works include Naruto Maelstroms (1959, age 70) and
Cherry Blossoms at Daigoji Temple (1972, age 83), and these works both reveal his true gaze, and his dense palette with its "density" created through the careful and repeated layering of pigments. His style, also characterized by the artist's own clarity and gentleness, continues to evoke reactions and emotions in its viewers today, 120 years since his birth.

The Yamatane Museum of Art has brought together a total of 135 works by Togyu for this exhibition, including paintings, drawings and calligraphy. Indeed, the majority of Togyu's postwar Autumn Inten exhibition works are in the Yamatane collection. This Togyu Collection, unrivaled in or out of Japan, contributes approximately 70 of the works on display here, focusing on Togyu's Inten works, with the additional display of works on the flowers and grasses of the four seasons and the twelve zodiac animal themes. We hope that visitors to the museum will enjoy this introduction to the core of Togyu's oeuvre and arts.

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