Koryuen

Museums

This section introduces museums, located in Japan and around the world, that house or display netsuke and other related objects such as inro, pipe cases, tobacco implements, yatate, sword fittings.

| Japan | North America | Europe | Middle East |



JAPAN



[Tokyo]

Tokyo National Museum
TIH Prince and Princess Takamado's netsuke collection, primarily of contemporary pieces, has been donated to the Museum, and a part of it is displayed at the Prince Takamado Collection Room on the 2nd floor of the Honkan building.
Rotated 4 times a year, some 50 pieces from the collection are always on view.
The catalog has been published.

The Museum also houses antique netsuke and inro mainly from Baron Go collection, and 15 netsuke are on permanent display.
Catalog of all the netsuke and inro in the Museum is available.

Address: 13-9 Ueno Park, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-8712
Tel: 03-3272-8600(recorded), or 03-3822-1111
Website:
http://www.tnm.go.jp

Tobacco and Salt Museum
Collection of tobacco pouches assembled by the rakugo (comic story) teller Katsura Bunraku VIII.
The museum sometimes displays items such as netsuke and tobacco pouches. The museum was located in Shibuya, Tokyo, but it will re-open in Sumida-ku on April 25, 2015.
The Museum has published a number of tobacco-related catalogs, including those of netsuke and tobacco pouches

Address: 1-16-3 Yokokawa, Sumida-ku, Tokyo 130-0003
Tel: 03-3622-8801
Website: https://www.jti.co.jp/Culture/museum_e/index.html

Seikado Bunko Art Museum
The museum has inro and netsuke.
Published a catalog of their inro and netsuke to mark their first showing of those items.

Address: 2-23-1 Okamoto, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 157-0076
Tel: 03-3700-0007
Website: http://www.seikado.or.jp

Nezu Museum
The museum houses inro and netsuke.

Address: 6-5-1 Minami Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0062
Tel: 03-3400-2536
Website: http://www.nezu-muse.or.jp

The University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts
The institution has 72 pieces of antique netsuke and 38 works of contemporary netsuke.

Address: 12-8 Ueno Park, Taito-ku Tokyo 110-0007
Tel: 050-5525-2200
http://www.geidai.ac.jp/museum/

Asakura Museum of Sculpture
The Museum houses the netsuke and Chinese snuff bottles collected by the Japanese leading sculptor Asakura Fumio (1883-1964), who was active in the early to mid 20th century.

Address: 7-18-10 Yanaka, Taito-ku, Tokyo, 110-0001
Tel: 03-3821-4549
Website: http://www.taitocity.net/zaidan/english/asakura/

[Chiba prefecture]

National Museum of Japanese History (REKIHAKU)
The museum houses inro and netsuke from Makino collection.

Address: 117 Jonai-cho, Sakura-shi, Chiba 285-8502
Tel: 043-486-0123
Website: http://www.rekihaku.ac.jp

[Yokohama (Kanagawa prefecture)]

Equine Museum of Japan
The museum has a number of horse netsuke.

Address: 1-3 Negishidai, Naka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa 231-0853
Tel: 045-662-7581
Website: http://www.bajibunka.jrao.ne.jp/uma/

[Shizuoka prefecture]

Kakegawa Ninomaru Museum of Art
The museum houses Kinoshita collection of tobacco implements, and often put them on display.
Catalogs available.

Address: 1142-1 Kakegawa, Kakegawa-shi, Shizuoka 436-0079
Tel: 0537-62-2061
Website: http://www.city.kakegawa.shizuoka.jp/foreignlanguage/en/Spots.html

[Nagano prefecture]

Suzaka City Museum
The museum houses netsuke and inro (the late Prince Takamado saw the collection) .
They published a catalog of a special exhibition in which netsuke and inro from their collection was on view.
The colleciton in cludes a shoki netsuke which feels wonderful when held in hand (available for viewing on appointment).

Address: 2-4-1 Garyu, Suzaka-shi, Nagano 382-0028
Tel: 026-245-0407
Website: https://www.city.suzaka.nagano.jp/enjoy/shisetsu/hakubutsukan/

[Nagoya]

The Tokugawa Art Museum
The museum houses Owari-Tokugawa family's collection of inro and netsuke.

Address: 1017 Tokugawa-cho, Higashi-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi 461-0023
Tel: 052-935-6269 (recorded guidance)
Website: http://www.tokugawa-art-museum.jp

[Osaka]

Osaka Municipal Museum of Art
The museum has the Casal collection of netsuke, inro, pipe cases and various lacquerware.
Netsuke are sometimes on view as part of their permanent display.
Casal collection catalog of netsuke and lacquerware is available.

Address: 1-82 Chausuyama-cho, Tennoji-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka 543-0063
Tel: 06-6771-4874
Website: http://www.osaka-art-museum.jp

[Kyoto]

Kiyomizu Sannenzaka Museum
The museum has netsuke and inro, and displays them and other artistic crafts from the end of Edo through Meiji periods as permanent or special exhibition.
Netsuke are sometimes on view.

Address: 337-1 Kiyomizu-sanchome, Sanneizaka Kita-iru, Kiyomizudera-monzen, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto 605-0862
Tel: 075-532-4270
Website: http://www.sannenzaka-museum.co.jp

Kyoto Seishu Netsuke Art Museum
About 400 works of netsuke, mostly contemporary, are displayed in the only existing samurai residence in the city of Kyoto. Since the opening in September 2007, this museum was available for viewing during four periods in a year. From 2015 on, the museum is open throughout the year (except a few closing periods).

Address: 46-1 Mibukayogosho-cho, Chukyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto 604-8811
Website: http://www.netsukekan.jp/en/

[Hida Takayama (Gifu prefecture)]

Kusakabe Heritage House
Drawn from the Kusakabe family collection, several netsuke (mostly by Hida artists)are always on display.

Address: 1-52 Oshinmachi, Takayama-shi, Gifu 506-0816
Tel: 0577-32-0072
Website: http://www.kusakabe-mingeikan.com

Inro Museum
Closed.

[Iwate prefecture]

Iwate Prefectural Museum
The museum houses a large number of sword fittings (Chida collection of 1,072 tsuba (sword guards), Motomochi collection of 768 tsuba, and 10 more tsuba, as well as some fuchi-kashira and kozuka).

Address: 34 Aza Matsuyashiki, Ueda, Morioka-shi, Iwate 020-0102
Tel: 019-661-2831




North America



[California]

Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The museum houses approximately 830 works of netsuke, mainly from Bushell collection.
They have a rotating display of about 150 netsuke always on view.
Published a large catalog of Bushell collection in 2003.
Database of the museum collection including netsuke can be viewed on the internet.
On appointment, the Japanese pavilion's library makes available the large collection of netsuke-related publications assembled by Mr. Cornelius V. S. Roosevelt.

Address: 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036, USA
Tel: 323-857-6000
Website:
http://www.lacma.org

The Cantor Art Center, Stanford University
The art center houses some 1,000 works of netsuke.

Address: Standford Campus at 328 Lomita Drive and Museum Way (Off Palm Drive), Standford California, USA
Tel: 650-723-4177
Website: http://cantorcollections.stanford.edu

Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
The museum houses netsuke and inro from the Avery Brundage collection.

Address: 200 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA 94102, USA
Tel: 415-581-3500
Website: http://www.asianart.org

[Massachusetts]

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Permanent display of netsuke available.
Catalog was published to accompany the exhibition in 2001.

Address: Avenue of Arts, 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115-5597, USA
Tel: 617-267-9300
Website: http://www.mfa.org

Peabody Essex Museum
The museum houses netsuke.

Address: East India Square, 161 Essex Street, Salem, MA 01970-3783, USA
Tel: 978-745-9500
Website: http://pem.org

[New York]

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The museum has about 600 inro and 2,500 netsuke.

Address: 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10028-0198, USA
Tel: 212-535-7710
Website: http://www.metmuseum.org

[Ohio]

Toledo Museum of Art
The museum has netsuke mainly from Richard Silverman collection.
Published a netsuke catalog.
The museum received the donation of a part of netsuke-related publications assembled by Norman Sandfield who complied The Ultimate Netsuke Bibliography, making the books and their database available for public use.

Address: Grove Place, Toledo, OH 43620, USA
Tel: 419-255-8000
Website: http://www.toledomuseum.org



Europe



[England, UK]

The British Museum
The museum has more than 2,000 netsuke mostly from Mrs. Anne Hull Grundy collection.
Permanent display of netsuke available.

Address: Great Russell Street, London WC1 B 3DG, UK
Tel: 020-7323-8525
Website:
http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk

Victoria and Albert Museum
The museum housese inro and over 1,000 netsuke.
In the Toshiba Gallery, 162 netsuke and 52 inro are permanently displayed. The Gallery will be closed in April 2015 for refurbishment, and will re-open in late October 2015, and there will be 72 netsuke and 37 inro on show.
A book on their inro and another book on netsuke have been published.

Address: Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL, UK
Tel: 020-7942-2000
Website: http://www.vam.ac.uk

The Fitzwilliam Museum
The museum houses more than 500 netsuke from the 17th to 20th centuries.

Address: Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RB, UK
Tel: 01223-332900
Website: http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk

National Museums Liverpool
The museum has netsuke. Among them, 128 netsuke from the collection of the late Mr. Jonas Goro Gadelius (1926 - 2003) were donated by his widow Gabita. The donated pieces include works by Mitsuhiro, Soko, Kokusai, as well as contemporary works by Masatoshi, Birch, and Ryushi.
Public display of netsuke began on June 2, 2009, and the display is refreshed each year. The installation of the first display can be seen at the following blog and its related link.
Blog: http://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/WhyHelenStandsOutFromTheCrowd.aspx
Related link (Flickr): http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalmuseumsliverpool/sets/72157618955622974/


Address: William Brown Street, Liverpool L3 8EN, UK
Tel: 0151-478-4393
Website: http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk

[Ireland]

Chester Beatty Library
This Library in Dublin houses the late Mr. Chester Beatty's (1875-1968) collection of artistic crafts, as well as books, prints, manuscripts, and paintings from the West, Islamic countries, and East Asia.
As for Japanese art, the collection includes hundreds of ukiyoe, tsuba (sword guards), netsuke, and inro. Twenty to thirty works of netsuke are on permanent display (on rotation). The Library also houses 900 pieces of Chinese snuff bottles.

Address: Dublin Castle, Dublin 2, Ireland
Tel: +353-1-407-0750
Website: http://www.cbl.ie

[Germany]

Linden-Museum Stuttgart
The museum houses netsuke from Anna and Christian Trumpf collection.
Catalogs available.

Address: Hegelplatz 1, D-70174 Stuttgart, Germany
Tel: 0711-2022-456
Website: http://www.lindenmuseum.de

[Hungary]

Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts
The museum houses netsuke.
Catalog available.

Address: 103 Andrassy Avenue, Budapest, Hungary
Tel: 36-1-1228-476
Website: http://hoppmuseum.hu/hopp_ferenc_en/

[Russia]

The State Hermitage Museum
The museum displays a part of their netsuke collection.
Their netsuke can be viewed on the internet.

Address: 2, Dvortsovaya Ploshchad (Dvortsovaya Square), 190000, St Petersburg, Russia
Tel: 812-110-96-25 (recorded announcements)
Website: http://www.hermitagemuseum.org

State Museum of Oriental Art
The museum displays netsuke.

Address: 119019, Moscow, Nikitsky Bulw., 12-a, Russia (up to metro stations Arbatskaya, Tverskaya, Pushkinsksya, Chekhovskaya then by trolly routs Nos. 15 or 31)
Tel: +7 (095) 291-9614, 291-4966, 291-8219
Website: http://www.orientalart.ru

Home Museum of Gorky
The museum has netsuke.

Address: 121069, Moscow, Povarskaya ul., 25а, Russia (5 minutes' walk from the State Museum of Oriental Art)
Tel: +7 (095) 290-5130

[Switzerland]

Baur Foundation, Museum of Far Eastern Art
The museum houses many netsuke.
Catalog was published (now out of print).

Address: 8 rue Munier-Romilly, 1206 Geneva, Switzerland
Tel: +41-22-704-32-82
Website: http://fondation-baur.ch/en/home

[The Netherlands]

National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden
The museum has netsuke, tobacco pouches, and inro from the collections of Philipp Franz von Siebold and others. Some of the pieces are on permanent display.

場所:Steenstraat 1, Postbus 212, 2300 AE Leiden, the Netherlands
電話:071-5168-800
ホームページ:http://www.rmv.nl

[Sweden]

Museum of Ethnography (Etnografiska museet)
The museum houses netsuke.

Address: Djurgardsbrunnsvagen 34, Box 27140, 102 52 Stockholm, Sweden
Tel: 08-519-550-00
Website: http://www.varldskulturmuseerna.se/en/etnografiskamuseet/

[Ukraine]

The Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko Museum of Arts
The museum has more than 100 netsuke.

Address: 01004, Kiev - 4, Tereshchenkivska St. 15-17, Ukraine
Tel: 044-235-13-05
Website: http://khanenkomuseum.kiev.ua

[Italy]

Museo Poldi Pezzoli
In 2005 this museum in Milan received some 400 netsuke collected by the Mr. Giacinto Lanfranchi (1889-1971), a part of which is on display (as of October 2013). Their website posts the images and descriptions of the collection (it is in progress) through the efforts of Mr. Giovanni Rimondi (click on "English" on the upper right, then click on "Collections" on the left, and then click on "Netsuke").

Address: Via Manzoni 12 - 20121 Milano, Italy
Tel: 0039-02794-889
Website: http://www.museopoldipezzoli.it



Middle East



[Israel]

Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art
The museum has inro and netsuke.

Address: 89 Hanassi Ave., Haifa, 34529, Israel
Tel: 04-8383554, 04-9115955
Website:
http://www.tmja.org.il/eng




Message from Koryuen

I complied the pieces of information for this page from some e-mail and personal correspondece as well as from the following material. Thank you!
Bessatsu Taiyo, Kotto-wo Tanoshimu 4, Inro to Netsuke [Taiyo Special Edition, Appreciation of Antiques 4, Inro and Netsuke] 1995.
International Netsuke Society Journal.
Netsuke Kenkyukai Study Journal.
Sandfield, Norman. The Ultimate Netsuke Bibliography. 1999.




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禁無断転載。Komada Makiko (c) 2000