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Approximately 80 Japanese Western-style paintings and Japanese-style paintings carefully selected from the Woodone Museum of Art, which boasts one of the finest collections of modern and contemporary paintings in Japan, will be shown in Kumamoto for the first time. Starting with Kishida Ryusei’s Portrait of Reiko with Woolen Knit Shawl and a large-scale mural by Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita, masterpieces by painters such as Yokoyama Taikan, Hishida Shunso, Takahashi Yuichi, Okada Saburosuke, and Aoki Shigeru all come together under one roof. Western paintings such as Vincent Van Gogh’s Peasant Woman will also be on special display!
This exhibition features swords, ceramics, and Western paintings selected from among the collection and entrusted works of the Kumamoto Prefectural Museum of Art.
In addition to items crafted by skilled Kumamoto artisans, visitors can also enjoy masterpieces of Western painting that the Museum has collected over the course of many years.
Hosokawa Tadatoshi, lord of Kumamoto Castle, and Miyake Tobei, a warrior of Karatsu Domain who died in an attack on Hondo Castle in Amakusa by rebel forces during the Shimabara-Amakusa Rebellion, were both in fact the grandsons of the samurai general Akechi Mitsuhide, famous for defeating the warlord Oda Nobunaga! Learn about these two figures connected to Mitsuhide who ended up in Kumamoto.
This exhibition introduces the works of the Edo-period painter Mori Sosen (1747?-1821), famous for his realistic paintings of monkeys, as well as those of his older brothers Yoshin and Shuho.
It also features other Edo-period painters in Kyoto and Osaka who specialized in paintings of particular animals, such as the chicken painter Jakuchu.
This exhibition introduces the plants and animals that adorned the daily lives of the lords and ladies of the Hosokawa family, from the brave-looking rabbits featured on lords’ armor to the rustic plants that decorated eating utensils and the cute, fluffy little animals in paintings!
This summer, make a trip to the Ninomaru Zoo and Botanical Garden!
It is our pleasure to present the exhibition of 70th anniversary of Eisei Bunko Museum, Famous Treasures of the Hosokawa Family across History: Limited-Time Unveiling of the National Treasure, the “Hosokawa Mirror”.
The Eisei Bunko Museum is located in a corner of Tokyo's Mejirodai neighborhood, a quiet section of Bunkyo City. It was established by Hosokawa Moritatsu, the sixteenth head of the Hosokawa family, in order to preserve and study various artworks, crafts, and historical documents that have been handed down through the Hosokawa family, the former feudal rulers of Kumamoto. It houses approximately 94,000 precious cultural assets, including numerous national treasures and important cultural properties. The collection can be broadly divided into items from the family’s days as feudal rulers, which tend to be highly functional in nature, and works of fine art accumulated by Moritatsu in modern times.
This year, 2020, marks the seventieth anniversary of Eisei Bunko. To commemorate this milestone year, the national treasure known as the “Hosokawa Mirror,” which has not been on display for about a decade, will be unveiled for a limited time only. The magnificent exhibition includes not only the gorgeous furnishings of the nobility passed down by the Hosokawa family along with early-modern paintings by the commissioned artists who served them, but also Oriental artworks from Moritatsu’s collection that have been designated as national treasures and important cultural properties, modern Japanese paintings, and paintings by the renowned swordsman and philosopher Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645). Don’t miss this chance to see the famous treasures of the Hosokawa family.
The Kumamoto Prefectural Museum of Art continues to add artworks into its collection by purchase or donation. This exhibition presents a selection of objects acquired in last year. Visitors can also enjoy masterpieces of Western painting that the Museum has collected over the course of many years.
This exhibition presents a variety of tools with a focus on the furnishings that added touches of color to the lifestyles of the Hosokawa family, including the furnishings of noble ladies who moved to Kumamoto from Edo (Tokyo), cups and confectionery containers bestowed by the imperial family, and eating and drinking utensils inscribed with imperial signature marks. Come enjoy the colorful world of noble furnishings.
The Hosokawa Collection Development Fund was established in March 2008 thanks to contributions by benefactors including companies in Kumamoto Prefecture. This exhibition introduces the results of its efforts by bringing together folding-screen paintings and other artworks that have successfully been restored. Works damaged in the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes whose restoration is now complete are also on display.
During the mid-Edo period (mid-eighteenth century), the sixth Hosokawa clan ruler of Kumamoto Domain, Shigekata, established the domain’s official school, the Jishukan School, inside the Ninomaru annex of Kumamoto Castle. Admission was open not only to the children of feudal retainers, but even to commoners of high academic standing. The school produced many scholars of merit until it closed in 1870. This exhibition features items connected to Shigekata, as well as calligraphy by prominent teachers and students of the Jishukan School.
The theme of this exhibition of the Museum’s collection is “journeys.” Room 1 presents works by Yano Yoshikatsu (1760-1821), a painter who served the feudal rulers of Kumamoto Domain and died two centuries ago. Starting with his “Scroll Paintings of Famous Places in Kumamoto Domain” depicting various locations in the region, Yoshikatsu, who was known as a “traveling painter,” even journeyed as far as Mount Fuji and northeastern Japan and painted the scenery he saw there. Room 2 displays modern Japanese dolls and lacquerware with a focus on the Doll Festival ornaments of the Hosokawa family. Room 3 traces the career of Otsuka Koji (1914-1945), a Western-style painter from Kikuchi City, from his arrival in Tokyo to his final years, through artworks and documents.