Tourist Attractions and Experiences

Masaki Art Museum

Focusing on ink wash paintings, this museum collects and exhibits 1,300 works of Western and Eastern art, including 3 national treasures and 13 Important Cultural Assets.

Basic information

A 15-minute walk from Masaoka Station on the Nankai Main Line, this museum stores and exhibits Western and Eastern works of art, centered around the ink wash paintings collected over the years by wealthy Masaoka resident Takayuki Masaki. The collection includes 3 National Treasures and 1,300 works (13 of which are Important Cultural Assets), about 300 of them paintings and many of which date from the Kamakura (1185–1333) and Muromachi (1336–1573) periods. These items make the collection a veritable treasure trove of art from the Japanese middle ages. Both the original building and annex were designed by Masaki and engender an atmosphere of quiet tranquility ideal for the appreciation of classic ink wash paintings. The museum hosts two exhibitions a year, one in the spring and one in the fall. Every exhibition is carefully planned and coordinating, focusing on ink painting and calligraphers' holographs while selecting works of craft and sculpture as well as tea ceremony implements that harmonize with these relics of Zen Buddhist culture.