Hiraki Ukiyo-e Foundation

The Hiraki Ukiyo-e Foundation (公益財団法人 平木浮世絵財団) is a Japanese cultural foundation devoted to ukiyo-e. According to its official overview, Shinji Hiraki bought up the Saito and Mihara collections to keep them in Japan, and in 1971 (Showa 46) established the incorporated foundation Hiraki Ukiyo-e Foundation. In September 1972 (Showa 47) it opened the Rikka Museum, described as Japan's first museum specializing in ukiyo-e; after operating as the Hiraki Ukiyo-e Museum, it opened the Hiraki Ukiyo-e Museum UKIYO-e TOKYO in the Toyosu area of Tokyo in October 2006 (Heisei 18). That museum has since closed, and the foundation now holds collection exhibitions at museums and art museums across Japan. Its official site also presents the Hiraki Collection, publications, and an online shop, Hiraki Ukiyo-e Book Shop.

According to the foundation's official overview, ukiyo-e was highly regarded overseas and many works were held by museums abroad. In Japan, the Saito, Mihara, and Matsukata collections were known as the three great prewar ukiyo-e collections. The Matsukata Collection was housed in the Tokyo National Museum, but the Saito and Mihara collections faced the risk of flowing overseas during the postwar turmoil. Shinji Hiraki bought them with the determination to keep them in Japan. To let many people know the excellence of ukiyo-e, he established the incorporated foundation Hiraki Ukiyo-e Foundation in 1971 (Showa 46), and in September 1972 (Showa 47) opened the Rikka Museum, Japan's first museum specializing in ukiyo-e. After passing through the name Hiraki Ukiyo-e Museum, in October 2006 (Heisei 18) it opened the Hiraki Ukiyo-e Museum UKIYO-e TOKYO in Toyosu, a new city in the Tokyo Bay area. The overview states that the Hiraki Ukiyo-e Museum UKIYO-e TOKYO has closed, and that the foundation currently holds collection exhibitions at museums and art museums nationwide.

A public-interest foundation preserving and presenting ukiyo-e, formerly operating Japan's first ukiyo-e-specialist museum and now organizing collection exhibitions nationwide.

• Utagawa Kuniyoshi's Visual Biography of Heroes in the Age of the Warring States

• Hiroshige's caricature

• Illustrated book "Furyu Ehon Yomo Byobu" by Torii Kiyonobu I

• The Ojaku Collection - The World of Ukiyo-e Imagination

1. 1平木浮世絵美術館 (official website homepage)ukiyoe-tokyo.or.jp
2. 2概要 (official website overview page)ukiyoe-tokyo.or.jp
3. 3Hiraki Ukiyo-e Foundation (Wikidata)wikidata.org