Museum of the Imperial Collections


The Museum of the Imperial Collections is located on the grounds of the East Garden of Tokyo Imperial Palace. It showcases a changing exhibition of a part of the imperial household treasures.

History

The Museum of the Imperial Collections was conceived during the change from the Shōwa period to the Heisei period . The Imperial family donated 6,000 pieces of art to the Japanese government in 1989. Many pieces were created by Imperial Household Artists. The museum was opened in 1993 for the study and preservation of the art collection. The collection was further enlarged by the donation of the art collection of Prince Chichibu in 1996, the collection of Kikuko, Princess Takamatsu in 2005, and the collection of Prince Mikasa family in 2014.
The number of items in the collection is 9,800 at present, but the exhibition room is a small room of 160 square meters and the storage room is small. Therefore, the existing museum will be rebuilt and the exhibition room will be expanded to 1,300 square meters. The construction is scheduled to be completed in 2025.

Selected artists

The museum houses many masterpieces, but because they are cultural assets owned by the Imperial Household Agency, none of them are designated as a national treasure or an important cultural property in Japan.

Nihonga