Idemitsu Museum of Arts

The Idemitsu Museum of Arts (出光美術館, Idemitsu Bijutsukan) is a private art museum in the Marunouchi district of Chiyoda, Tokyo, that holds temporary exhibitions drawn exclusively from its own extensive collection. Founded in 1966, it was established to preserve and display the art collection assembled over approximately 70 years by Sazō Idemitsu (1885-1981), the founder of the oil company Idemitsu Kōsan. The museum is currently administered as an incorporated foundation of Idemitsu Kōsan. Since 25 December 2024, the museum has been temporarily closed due to the demolition and reconstruction of the Teigeki Building that houses it, and no reopening date has been announced.

Sazō Idemitsu, who developed a passion for art early in life, began collecting works that would eventually form the museum's holdings. In 1966, he made this collection accessible to the public by opening the museum on the ninth floor of the Teigeki (Imperial Theatre) Building in Marunouchi, which also served as the corporate headquarters of Idemitsu Kōsan. The museum's lobby offered views over the park facing the Imperial Palace. A branch museum, Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Moji, opened in 2000 in Mojikō Retro Town in Moji Ward, Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka Prefecture, the city from which Idemitsu originated. The museum expanded its collection significantly in 2019 with the purchase of 190 works, primarily Edo period paintings, from American collectors Joe and Etsuko Price, including notable works by Itō Jakuchū, Maruyama Okyo, and Sakai Hōitsu. Financial pressures on Idemitsu Kōsan following Japan's economic recession beginning in 1990 led to the sale of portions of the collection in the early 2000s. The aging Teigeki Building is now being rebuilt, necessitating the museum's closure from December 2024.

The museum's collection encompasses approximately 15,000 cultural properties, with particular strengths in Japanese painting and East Asian ceramics. The Japanese painting holdings span multiple genres and periods: yamato-e narrative painting, ukiyo-e including works by Kaigetsudō Ando and Katsushika Hokusai, nanga (literati painting), and Rimpa school works. The collection also includes Namban art, Japanese genre painting, and calligraphic works in both Japanese and Chinese. Modern Japanese painting is represented by works including those by Misai Kosugi (Hōan Kosugi). The ceramics collection covers classical Chinese, Korean, and Japanese traditions, with modern pieces by Itaya Hazan. Western art in the collection includes paintings by Georges Rouault and Sam Francis. The Japanese government has designated two items from the collection as National Treasures and 57 as Important Cultural Properties.

Among the collection's most significant works are its two National Treasures. The first is the Ban Dainagon Ekotoba (伴大納言絵詞), a twelfth-century narrative handscroll (emaki) of major importance in Japanese art history. The second National Treasure is the Minu yo no tomo album in kana calligraphy. The Sengai collection comprises more than 1,000 objects by the Zen priest Sengai (1750-1837), including his famous ink painting "Circle, Square, Triangle" (unsigned, untitled), interpreted as a representation of the universe. The 2019 acquisition from the Price collection brought major Edo period works including Itō Jakuchū's Chōjū kaboku-zu byōbu (Birds and Animals in the Flower Garden), a pair of screens; Maruyama Okyo's Tora-zu (Tiger); and Sakai Hōitsu's Sanjūrokkasen-zu byōbu (The Thirty-six Poetic Immortals), another pair of screens. The museum also holds Tawaraya Sōtatsu's illustrated biography of the monk Saigyō and Ike no Taiga's six-panel screens Landscapes of the Twelve Months.

The museum occupies the ninth floor of the Teigeki Building (Imperial Theatre) in Marunouchi, directly opposite the Imperial Palace. From the museum lobby, visitors could look out over the park and moat surrounding the palace. The building also houses the corporate headquarters of Idemitsu Kōsan. Due to the aging of the structure, the building is being demolished and reconstructed. This reconstruction project caused the museum to close on 25 December 2024, with the reopening date yet to be determined.

The Idemitsu Museum of Arts is located in the Marunouchi area of Chiyoda, Tokyo, within the Teigeki Building. It is a private museum operated as an incorporated foundation of Idemitsu Kōsan. The museum presents its collection through temporary exhibitions only, holding several special exhibitions each year that rotate works from its holdings in Japanese painting, calligraphy, and East Asian ceramics. The branch museum in Moji, Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka Prefecture, offers an additional venue for displaying portions of the collection. Visitors should note that the Tokyo museum is temporarily closed from 25 December 2024 due to building reconstruction, with no announced reopening date.