Situated just a block from the Meguro River’s famed hanami spot, the Sato Sakura Museum is devoted to traditional Japanese nihonga painting—the discipline in which artists paint with powdered gemstones. As you may have guessed by the name, the core of their collection is One Hundred Views of Cherry Blossoms, but this museum is so much more.
Each of the three floors is a spacious gallery that gives the paintings room to breathe.
The first floor ensures that no matter what time of year you’re there, you get a dose of cherry blossoms, because it’s devoted to a rotating selection from their permanent collection of sakura-themed works.
From magnificent byōbu folding screens that showcase a traditional stylized approach and masterful use of gold leaf…
to spare compositions that bring to mind elegant haiku-inspired ink paintings…
the works on the ground floor gallery pay a worthy homage to Japan’s most famous season.
But that’s not all—this museum supports up-and-coming nihonga artists by commissioning them to make paintings on a common theme and exhibiting them in the annual “Oka-Sho Award Exhibition.” While I was there, the second and third floor works were from this cohort, and they demonstrated how modern nihonga artists are incorporating more realism and depth…
using more graphic compositions and untraditional colors…
mixing natural subjects with traditional Japanese patterns…
borrowing techniques from the Impressionists to depict cherry blossoms in the rain…
or reflected in the water, as the petals fall to pinken the river.
Some of the works evoke the longing of being on the inside looking out at the glory…
while others pull you right into their midst.
The building itself is a work of art…
that delights from within as you climb the stairs and discover that the facade is designed to let light in through the blossom pattern on the front.
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Sato Sakura Museum
Open: Every day except closed Mondays
Hours: 10:00 – 17:00
Admission: Adults, ¥800
Information about current and future exhibitions is on the
Sato Sakura Museum website.
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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, produces the monthly e-magazine Japanagram, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had
Jonelle Patrick writes about Japan 