Places to visit

so much to see

The UK has some of the largest and best collections of Japanese art outside of Japan London being one of the art capitals of the world. The British Museum houses some of the oldest pieces of Japanese art in the UK. A permanent gallery dedicated to the subject “The Mitsubishi Corporation Japanese Galleries (Room 93)” is a must-see for anyone looking to find armour, swords, lacquerware, netsuke, wood carvings, ironwork and much more.

The V&A was created specifically to specialise in art and design being funded from money generated at the great exposition of 1851. By the late 19th century Japanese art had griped the world like nothing else after unbelievable shows at other world expositions. The V&A had no hesitation in acquiring many Japanese works of art from the Meiji period to add to the new collections being created at that time. In the 1980s the V&A created a permanent gallery to display some of the collection in “The Toshiba Gallery (Room 45)”.

The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford was the first-ever museum created in the world for the public to visit and enjoy. Pieces from all over the world can be found there but for the Japanese art lover, it houses a permanent collection in (Room 36). Early works up to the Meiji period can be found beautifully displayed there.

Many museums in the UK house Japanese collections for you to visit. A list of them can be found below.

British Museum

Victoria and Albert Museum

Ashmolean Museum

Liverpool Museum

Oriental Museum, Durham

Ulster Museum

Pitt Rivers Museum

National Museum of Scotland

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

Royal Cornwall Museum

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