Mitsui Memorial Museum
Current exhibition
>> List of Exhibits(PDF)
We are proud and fortunate on this occasion to open the Kyosai: Noh and Kyogen Paintings exhibition, focusing on the paintings on these traditional theatrical arts by Kawanabe Kyōsai (1831–1889), selected from amongst his diverse oeuvre that spanned the end of the Edo period through the early Meiji era. Kyōsai himself appeared as an amateur on the stage, and this exhibition features his generously brushed folding screen and hanging scroll-format paintings created from those experiences of Noh and Kyōgen, along with sketches drawn backstage, prints and related materials. It is our hope that visitors to the exhibition will experience through these works this superb painter’s creation of a realm that unites pictures and theatrical arts.
The Mitsui family historically were passionately involved in Noh and Kyōgen, going so far as to have a Noh stage in the grounds of their residence. The Mitsui Memorial Museum houses 54 Noh masks (Important Cultural Properties, ex-Kongō family provenance), handed down in the Mitsui family collection, along with Noh robes, instruments and other important related works. In addition to the Mitsui interest in Noh and Kyōgen, Kyōsai in turn had connections with the Nihonbashi district, thus making the Mitsui Memorial Museum a most appropriate setting for this exhibition.
■Hours: 10am to 5pm, entrance until 4:30pm
■Holidays: Mondays(except 4/29, 5/6), 5/7
（If Monday is a national holiday, the museum will be open on Monday and closed the following day.)
■Address: Mitsui Main Building, 7th Floor, Nihonbashi Muromachi 2-1-1, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-0022
■For inquiries: 03-5777-8600 (Japanese only)
■Transportation:
Tokyo Metro Subway Ginza Line: Exit A7, 1 min walk from Mitsukoshimae Station
Tokyo Metro Subway Hanzomon Line: Exit A7, 4 min walk from Mitsukoshimae Station
Tokyo Metro Subway Ginza-Tozai Lines: 4 min walk from Nihonbashi station,Exit B11※
Toei Subway Asakusa Line: 6 min walk from Nihonbashi station,Exit B11※
※Exit B11 is temporarily closed. Please use COREDO NIHONBASHI elevator or escalator up to the ground floor.
JR Tokyo Station: 7 min walk from Nihonbashiguchi exit
JR Kanda Station: 6 min walk
JR Sobu Line Rapid Service: 4 min walk from Shin-nihonbashi Station
Metro Link Nihonbashi (Free bus service): Mitsui Memorial Museum bus stop
※Bring this coupon and you will get 100yen discount.(1 coupon per person)
Mitsui Memorial Museum
The Mitsui Memorial Museum opened in October 2005 in Nihonbashi, a site closely related to the Mitsui Group. The collections from the Mitsui Bunko Museum in Nakano ward, with many treasures of Japanese and Asian art, will move to the new museum. Members of the Mitsui families have assembled the art works in the collection over the past three centuries and their preservation as a collection make these art works a preeminent element of Japanese cultural heritage.
The Mitsui Memorial Museum is located in the Mitsui Main Building. This important western-style structure created in the early Showa era has been designated an Important Cultural Property by the Japanese government. The entrance to the new museum is located in the neighboring super skyscraper the Nihonbashi Mitsui Tower Atrium.
The exhibition galleries will 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. Display of the "beauty of functionality" in the selection of tea ceremony utensils will be 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.
