Timeless and Universal

-Masterpieces of Chinese Bronzes from Sumitomo Collection
January 14 (Sat.) – February 26 (Sun.) 2023
Open Hours
11:00~18:00* 11:00~19:00 on Fridays
(Last admission 30 minutes before closing)
Day Closed
Mondays during the exhibition
(Open on public holidays, closed on the following weekday)

The final exhibition to commemorate the grand reopening of the Sen-Oku Hakukokan Museum Tokyo focuses on the symbols of the Sumitomo Collection, its fine Chinese bronzes. Handed down for about 3,000 years, they are the origins of East Asian arts and crafts. This commemorative exhibition is a special opportunity bringing select masterpieces from the Sumitomo Collection to exhaustively showcase their appeal from various angles including their forms, motifs, and inscriptions as well as the history of their appreciation. Digital content created using 3D measurements will also be unveiled at the exhibition venue. Don’t miss this glimpse into the ancient yet novel world of Chinese bronzes.

Wine vase, You, tiger holding a human being (BCE11c)
SEN-OKU HAKUKOKAN MUSEUM(Kyoto)
Wine jar, Lei, with Tao-tie design(BCE11c)
SEN-OKU HAKUKOKAN MUSEUM(Kyoto)
Admission Fee
Adults ¥1,000
University/High School Students with ID ¥600
Junior High/Elementary School Students and under : Free
* A group discount applies for a party of 20 or more.
* Free for people with disability ID
Special Exhibition

THE ATAKA COLLECTION 101

-Masterpiece Selection from The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka-
March 18 (Sat.) - May 21 (Sun.) 2023
Open Hours
11:00~18:00* 11:00~19:00 on Fridays
(Last admission 30 minutes before closing)
Day Closed
Mondays during the exhibition
(Open on public holidays, closed on the following weekday)

The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, houses one of Japan’s finest collections of East Asian ceramics. At the core of this collection are about 1,000 pieces of East Asian ceramics collected according to the aesthetics of ATAKA Eiichi (1901-1994) of the Ataka & Co., Ltd.
Formerly in danger of becoming scattered and lost, this “Ataka Collection” was donated to Osaka City by the Osaka-based Sumitomo Group, which also contributed to the construction of the Museum of Oriental Ceramics. This exhibition presents gems of East Asian ceramics through 101 selected pieces from the Ataka Collection, including two national treasures and eleven important cultural properties.

RICE-BALE-SHAPED BOTTLE, buncheong ware with iron-painted bird and fish design. Joseon dynasty, second half of the 15th-first half of the 16th century.
The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka (gift of SUMITOMO Group, the ATAKA Collection), photograph by MUDA Tomohiro
National Treasure TEA BOWL (Yuteki Tenmoku), stoneware with "oil spots" and iridescent luster on tenmoku glaze. Southern Song dynasty,12th-13th century.
The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka (gift of SUMITOMO Group, the ATAKA Collection), photograph by MUDA Tomohiro
Admission Fee
Adults ¥1,200
University/High School Students with ID ¥800
Junior High/Elementary School Students and under : Free
* A group discount applies for a party of 20 or more.
* Free for people with disability ID
Special Exhibition

Konoshima Okoku

-Lost in Sansui painting-
June 3 (Sat.) - July 23 (Sun.) 2023
Open Hours
11:00~18:00* 11:00~19:00 on Fridays
(Last admission 30 minutes before closing)
Day Closed
Mondays during the exhibition
(Open on public holidays, closed on the following weekday)

The Japanese painter KONOSHIMA Okoku (1877-1938) has been reappraised in recent years for epitomizing the art world of early modern Kyoto.
Though well known for his animal paintings, Okoku is no less notable for the fact that he was a lifelong painter of landscapes.
His youth spent sketching scenery throughout Japan allowed him to develop a modernistic style of landscape painting incorporating the spatial awareness of Western painting. Meanwhile, due to his affinity for Chinese poetry from an early age and love of ancient Chinese and Japanese paintings, Okoku gradually arrived at novel yet familiar representations of landscapes that seem to transplant the idealized world of the Chinese literati into Japanese scenery. This exhibition also introduces Okoku’s landscape sketches as well as the paintings and bonseki, stones that represent landscape scenery, that he collected. While providing an overview of his diverse landscape paintings, it probes their underlying “landscapes in one’s heart.”

KONOSHIMA Okoku Landscape. Dated 1910.
Chiso Co., Ltd
KONOSHIMA Okoku Spring on a main road. 1913.
Fukuda Art Museum
Admission Fee
Adults ¥1,200
University/High School Students with ID ¥800
Junior High/Elementary School Students and under : Free
* A group discount applies for a party of 20 or more.
* Free for people with disability ID
Thematic Exhibition

Joyful Seclusion: Mindfulness of the Literati

September 2 (Sat.) - October 15 (Sun.) 2023
Open Hours
11:00~18:00* 11:00~19:00 on Fridays
(Last admission 30 minutes before closing)
Day Closed
Mondays during the exhibition
(Open on public holidays, closed on the following weekday)

Ideals for lifestyle and literary themes are hidden in East Asian landscape paintings. In particular, literati paintings reveal an endless variety of styles of seclusion from the world, from “radical” seclusion aimed at active sequestration to escape from the harshness of reality to “joyful” seclusion seeking the laidback life of the countryside.
This exhibition presents diverse styles of seclusion depicted amid the pursuit of the mindfulness of the Chinese and Japanese literati, who enjoyed “intentionally focusing on the present moment and simply observing with a detached state of mind, without making judgments.”

YAMAZAKI Choun  Shan Tao of the Bamboo Grove. 1912.
SEN-OKU HAKUKOKAN MUSEUM TOKYO
TANOMURA Cihkuden Plum Blossoming Heritage. Edo period, 1827.
SEN-OKU HAKUKOKAN MUSEUM(Kyoto)
Admission Fee
Adults ¥1,000
University/High School Students with ID ¥600
Junior High/Elementary School Students and under : Free
* A group discount applies for a party of 20 or more.
* Free for people with disability ID
Special Exhibition

The “Habitats” of Modern Japanese Paintings

November 2 (Thu.) - December 17 (Sun.) 2023
Open Hours
11:00~18:00* 11:00~19:00 on Fridays
(Last admission 30 minutes before closing)
Day Closed
Mondays during the exhibition
(Open on public holidays, closed on the following weekday)

The arrival of Western culture during the Meiji era brought cataclysmic changes to the appreciation of painting. In particular, the introduction of the exhibition system moved Japanese paintings from their former “habitat” of alcoves and tatami-floored reception rooms into exhibition venues.
As a result, painting shifted substantially toward forms more befitting of this new environment, including an increase in size and richly colored works. Against this historical backdrop, the Japanese paintings in the Sumitomo Collection are works intended to decorate residences, such as folding screens to welcome guests and hanging scrolls to decorate alcoves. Their soft qualities and auspicious motifs run counter to the art displayed at exhibitions.
This exhibition showcases the appeal and development of modern Japanese paintings to decorate alcoves and reception rooms by shining a spotlight on their “habitats,” which are now in the process of disappearing.

KANO Hogai  God of Longevity(Shoulao) ca.1877~82
SEN-OKU HAKUKOKAN MUSEUM TOKYO
MOCHIZUKI Gyokusen  Gooses and Reeds in Snow. 1908
SEN-OKU HAKUKOKAN MUSEUM TOKYO
Admission Fee
Adults ¥1,200
University/High School Students with ID ¥800
Junior High/Elementary School Students and under : Free
* A group discount applies for a party of 20 or more.
* Free for people with disability ID

Directions

  • Open Hours
    11:00~18:00 *11:00-19:00 on Fridays
    (Last admission 30 minutes before closing)
  • Admission Fee
    Adults ¥1,000 (¥1,200)
    University/High School Students with ID ¥600 (¥800)
    Junior High/Elementary School Students and under : Free
    (admission for special exhibitions)
    * A group discount applies for a party of 20 or more.
    * Free for people with disability ID
  • Day Closed
    Mondays during the exhibition
    (Open on public holidays, closed on the following weekday)

Access

N05
3minutes walk from “Roppongi-itchome Station” (Tokyo Metro Nanboku Line.)
H05
10minutes walk from “Kamiyacho Station”〔Exit 4b〕(Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line.)

Address


1-5-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan 106-0032
+81-50-5541-8600(Hello Dial)
Email: t-info@sen-oku.or.jp

Parking


The museum has no parking lot.

About the museum

SEN-OKU HAKUKOKAN MUSEUM and SEN-OKU HAKUKOKAN MUSEUM TOKYO are art museums focusing on the collection of the Sumitomo family.
The Sumitomo Collection contains works in a broad range of fields, including ancient Chinese bronzes; Chinese and Japanese paintings and calligraphy; Western paintings; modern ceramics; tea ceremony utensils; stationeries for Chinese literati; and Noh masks and costumes.
Located in Kyoto and Tokyo, the two museums hold exhibitions taking advantage of the characteristics of their respective locations.

Most of the items in the Sumitomo Collection were acquired by the fifteenth head of the Sumitomo family, SUMITOMO Kichizaemon Tomoito (pseudonym: Shunsui), during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Shunsui laid the foundation for the modern Sumitomo Group by expanding the family business from copper mine operation into various fields and promoting modernization. Meanwhile, he also showed a high degree of interest in art and culture. He left a significant mark on cultural social enterprises, including the donation of construction and book purchasing costs for a library in Osaka Prefecture in 1900.
At the same time, he was fond of the tea ceremony, as well as classical Japanese performing arts such as Noh, and decorated the alcoves of his residence with Japanese paintings of the four seasons. Motivated by admiration for the Chinese literati, he enjoyed Chinese-style sencha tea ceremonies and seal engraving in his study, surrounded by the stationeries that he collected. He was also an active supporter of Japanese Western-style painters in his day and built a Western-style villa on the scenic Suma coast, where he enjoyed a Westernized lifestyle that was progressive for its time. With his wide-ranging interest in culture, Shunsui collected fine artworks from all different eras and parts of the world.

At the center of the Sumitomo Collection are Chinese bronze vessels highly prized both in Japan and abroad. The Sen-Oku Hakukokan Museum was established in 1960 with the donation of more than 500 Chinese bronze vessels and mirrors by the Sumitomo family. Rather than stashing his collection away, Shunsui shared it widely through various means such as exhibitions, increasing public recognition of Chinese bronzes. He also made significant contributions to the research field through the publication of splendid catalogs.
The attitude and ideals of Shunsui’s social contributions through culture have been handed down to posterity and form the basis of the museum’s current operations.

The collection has been further enhanced through the addition of works by masters of late Ming and early Qing Chinese painting, such as Bada Shanren and Shitao, as well as the great modern Japanese Western-style painter KISHIDA Ryusei, acquired by Shunsui’s eldest son Kan’ichi, along with works by leading twentieth-century Western painters such as Picasso and Renoir, as well as Japanese painters from the same period, collected by the sixteenth head of the Sumitomo family, Tomonari.