Taito City Culture Guide Book, Visiting Calligraphy Museum

Calligraphy Museum's Website

Taito City Calligraphy Museum is a special museum that has important collections for the study of Chinese and Japanese Calligraphy Histories, which were collected by Western-style painter and calligrapher Fusetsu Nakamura alone for more than 40 years, almost half his life. Although the former Calligraphy Museum had been maintained by the Nakamura family for 60 years since its foundation, it was donated to Taito City in December 1995. Then, the museum reopened as "Taito City Calligraphy Museum." The museum is comprised of the already-built main building and Fusetsu Nakamura Memorial Hall, which was newly built after the donation. The museum, also known as Fusetsu Nakamura's former residence, is officially designated as a historical site by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. (2-10-4 Negishi, Taito City)

Statue of Fusetsu Nakamura
The bronze statue of Fusetsu Nakamura stands on the flowery garden of Calligraphy Museum. The statue holds a palette and paintbrushes, revealing that he is a painter.

Taito City Calligraphy Museum has a variety of collections for Chinese and Japanese Calligraphy Histories, which was collected by Western-style painter and calligrapher Fusetsu Nakamura (1866 - 1943). The collections include 12 copies of ancient Buddhist sutras, which are designated as important cultural properties, and 5 precious art works, as well as Chinese inscriptions on bones and tortoiseshells from the Yin period, rubbed copies of monuments, sutra scrolls, law documents, bronze ware, precious stone ware, ancient mirrors, circular antefixes, and Buddhist statues. The quality and quantity of those collections reach the world-class level comparable to that of the Stein collection (owned by the British Museum) and the Pelliot collection (owned by the Bibliothèque Nationale de France).

Calligraphy Museum's Garden
Cherry trees planted on the garden of Calligraphy Museum colorfully bloom in early spring. The garden is also known as a "hideaway" cherry-blossom viewing spot.

Information about Fusetsu Nakamura's Former Residence (Calligraphy Museum) [Click the image to see details.]

The main building of Calligraphy Museum is officially designated as a historical site by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

Inside of Fusetsu Nakamura Memorial Hall
Fusetsu Nakamura Memorial Hall was built adjacent to the main building.