Okura Museum of Art

Closed for renovation since April 1, 2014, the museum reopened alongside the rebuilt hotel in 2019.

• Name — Okura Museum of Art 大倉集古館 • Alternate Names — Ōkura Shūkokan • Address — 2-10-3 Toranomon • Location Town — Minato, Tokyo • Location Country — Japan • Opened Date — August 1917 / October 1928 • Architect — Itō Chūta • Architecture Firm — Ōkura Doboku • Website — shukokan.org Okura Museum of Art is a museum in Tokyo, Japan.

The Okura Museum of Art was the first private museum in Japan. The museum and all the exhibits on display were destroyed in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake although works then in storage survived. The exhibition hall was rebuilt in 1927 by leading architect and architectural historian Itō Chūta and is a Registered Cultural Property. The museum collection was subsequently augmented by the founder's son, Ōkura Kishichirō. Kihachiro Okura began collecting Japanese works of art to prevent them leaving the country during the turbulent times of the late 19th century. Thirty years later, he established the Okura Museum of Art (Okura Bijutsukan) on the grounds of his residence in Akasaka, Tokyo in 1902. Kihachiro collected a number of ancient artworks from across Japan and East Asia, including Fugen Bosatsu (Samantabhadra) on an Elephant. He also preserved several precious historical buildings. All of these were donated to the Okura Museum of Art (Okura Shokokan) in 1917 when it became the first art museum in Japan to be established by a private foundation. The building and many artworks were subsequently lost to fire in the Greek Kanto Earthquake of 1923. A new quake-and-fire-proof gallery was then built in classical Chinese style based on a design by the renowned architect Chuta Ito, with the museum opening again in 1928. Kihachiro's son Kishichiro later added to the museum's collection when he donated Equestrian Portraits of Court Nobles, Introduction to the Poetry Anthology Kokinwakashu, and a number of modern Japanese paintings.

The three National Treasures in the collection are a Heian-period wooden statue of Samantabhadra (Fugen Bosatsu in Japanese) riding on an elephant; a scroll painting Imperial Guard Cavalry (Zuijin Teiki Emaki in Japanese) dating to 1247; and a copy of the preface to the Kokinshū attributed to Minamoto no Shunrai. Losses in the 1923 earthquake include one of the dry lacquer statue group of the Ten Great Disciples of which six survive at Kōfuku-ji (National Treasures).