Mitsui Memorial Museum

Mitsui Memorial Museum, occupying the seventh floor of the landmark Mitsui Main Building (1929, Important Cultural Property) in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, is the cultural jewel of the Mitsui Group. Since opening in 2005, it has displayed the extraordinary collection assembled by the Mitsui family over three centuries. The Mitsui were the most powerful merchants in Edo Japan, operating as dry goods and money-changing merchants across the three cities of Edo, Kyoto, and Osaka, and their refined taste produced one of Japan's finest collections spanning tea ceremony utensils, Noh masks, paintings, ceramics, and sword fittings. The sword and sword fittings collection is particularly celebrated: Mitsui holdings include masterwork tsuba by the Goto family, Shoami school, Nobuie, and Kaneie, as well as exceptional menuki, fuchi-kashira, and kozuka. A few fine blades by noted swordsmiths also form part of the collection. The unique merit of the Mitsui collection is that it embodies the seamless fusion of chanoyu (tea ceremony) culture and bushi culture that characterized the wealthiest merchant families of Edo: renowned swords and fittings were displayed alongside tea caddies and tea bowls at formal tea gatherings. The museum's Neoclassical building, the prestigious Nihonbashi neighborhood with its historic department stores and venerable shops, and the typically compact but intense exhibitions make a visit here a distinctly urban cultural experience. Five to six special exhibitions per year rotate through the full collection of over 3,000 objects.