Kikuchi Kanjitsu Memorial Tomo Museum

The Kikuchi Kanjitsu Memorial Tomo Museum, commonly known as Musée Tomo or Tomo Museum, is a museum devoted to contemporary Japanese ceramic art located at 4-1-35 Toranomon, Minato, Tokyo. Established in 2003 by collector and gallery owner Kikuchi Tomo (1923-2016), the institution houses her personally assembled collection and has become a significant venue for promoting and exhibiting Japanese contemporary ceramics both domestically and internationally.

Kikuchi Tomo's engagement with ceramics began in the early 1940s during World War II, when she visited her father, Kikuchi Kanjitsu (1885-1967), in Takahagi city, Ibaraki prefecture. Kanjitsu, who managed energy industry enterprises, had built a noborigama (climbing kiln) for ceramists from Seto city who had come to work under the National Requisition Ordinance. Tomo, then just over twenty years old, witnessed clay being fired and transformed, an experience that shaped her perspective on life and death during a period of wartime loss. She began collecting ceramics in the late 1950s, initially through connections with tea ceremony masters and specialists, before shifting her focus to contemporary ceramists active at that time. In 1974, she opened Kandori, a contemporary ceramic gallery on the lobby floor of Hotel New Otani in Tokyo, with its name deriving from a story her father told her about Kandori Kanbey, a prominent ceramic dealer. The gallery's inaugural solo exhibition featured Fujimoto Yoshimichi, a professor at Tokyo University of the Arts, and through him, the gallery introduced numerous young ceramists. In 1979, Kandori established a stand at Bloomingdale's department store in New York. The pivotal moment came in 1983, when Tomo organized "Japanese Ceramics Today, Masterworks from the Kikuchi Collection" at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., from February 11 to April 3. Comprising approximately 300 works by 100 artists, the exhibition traveled to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London from May 18 to July 17 that same year. During this period, Tomo met exhibition designer Richard Molinaroli, whose approach to spatial design influenced her subsequent curatorial vision. Upon returning to Japan, she organized three solo exhibitions at the Kikuchi Guest House on the premises of the present museum: "Ryuryo Tensho" featuring Suzuki Osamu in 1985, "Tenmon" featuring Raku Kichizaemon XV in 1987, and "Tokayoen" featuring Fujimoto Yoshimichi in 1992. Following the death of her eldest brother in 1995 and her subsequent assumption of roles including CEO of Keiyo Gas Co., Ltd., Tomo continued to pursue the creation of a dedicated museum space. The Kikuchi Kanjitsu Memorial Tomo Museum opened in 2003, with Tomo selecting the founding collection herself.

The museum's founding collection consists of ceramics carefully selected by Kikuchi Tomo herself. Since opening, the institution has specialized in presenting works by Japanese contemporary ceramists, including those who have passed away and left significant marks on the field. The collection encompasses pieces from the 1970s and 1980s by artists who were then in their thirties, forties, and fifties, representing a generation that pushed the boundaries of ceramic materials and techniques. The museum has since expanded its scope to include artists working in other mediums such as glass, lacquer, metal, and textile, while maintaining its core focus on contemporary ceramics. The institution also serves as a platform for examining the historical development of Japanese contemporary ceramics, including the avant-garde movements that emerged in the postwar period.

The collection includes works by major figures in Japanese contemporary ceramics. Among them are pieces by Yagi Kazuo (1918-1979), founder of the Sodeisha movement, including his 1964 work "Black Flower," which exemplifies the shift from functional vessel to sculptural form. The collection also features works by Fujimoto Yoshimichi (1919-1992), a holder of Important Intangible Cultural Property in the field of Iroejiki (porcelain with overglaze enamels), including his 1976 "Service Plate with Overglaze Enamels, with Kingfishers" and 1957 "Solar Eclipse." Seimei Tsuji (1927-2008) is represented by works that humorously explore the container function of ceramics, such as his porcelain cans with softened lids. The collection includes geometric architectural pieces by Tsuyoshi Kawasaki (1942-2023), and the quasi-iconoclastic work of Ryoji Koie (1938-2020), including "Evidence" with its tin cage suggesting a bleeding heart. Other artists in the collection include Miwa Ryosaku, represented by works such as "For Love" (1968). The museum has also published volumes on specific artists in its collection, including "Kawase Shinobu: Fifty Years of Celadon Making" (2018), "Fujimoto Yoshimichi: The Centennial of the Birth of a Master of Overglaze Enamels on Porcelain" (2019), "Takashi Nakazato: A Journey Through Clay" (2021), and "Koji Hatakeyama: Founding Worlds of Bronze" (2022).

The museum is situated in the Toranomon district of Minato, Tokyo, on the site that previously housed the Kikuchi Guest House. This building had served as the base of Kikuchi Kanjitsu's activities and, after his death, functioned as a guest house. The current museum structure replaced this earlier building. The premises have historical significance as the location where Tomo Kikuchi staged her three seminal guest house exhibitions in the 1980s and early 1990s, working with Richard Molinaroli to create spatial environments specifically designed for each exhibition's context.

The Kikuchi Kanjitsu Memorial Tomo Museum is located at 4-1-35 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo. Admission fees vary by exhibition, with general admission typically around 1,000-1,100 yen, though prices may vary for special exhibitions. The museum is regularly closed on Mondays, with specific closure dates adjusted during holidays and exhibition changeover periods. Opening hours are generally 11:00 to 18:00, with last admission at 17:30. The museum hosts the Kikuchi Biennale, a contemporary ceramic competition held every two years since 2004, which accepts ceramic artworks regardless of content or participant qualifications and displays selected works for approximately three months. The institution continues to operate under its official website at https://www.musee-tomo.or.jp/.