Follow the trail of research left behind by educators at the University Museum, a temple of knowledge

International Christian University Museum, Hachiro Yuasa Memorial Hall (Tokyo/Mitaka)

COLLECTOR: Hachiro Yuasa

A folk art collection by an educator who sought a more humane way of life

The museum opened in 1982 in memory of Hachiro Yuasa, the first president of ICU (International Christian University). Yuasa was a passionate educator who advocated the need for a "new education" in postwar Japan, but he was also passionate about the Mingei movement. He donated 6,500 pieces of handicrafts he had collected to the university, which became the foundation of the collection. We hope you will reflect on the "human way of life" that Yuasa sought to draw from Mingei.

Aizu Yaichi Memorial Museum, Waseda University (Tokyo/Waseda)

COLLECTOR: Yaichi Aizu

An archive of Oriental art by Aizu Yaichi, an artist and educator

The museum houses approximately 50,000 academic materials on subjects including Eastern art, modern art, and archaeology. It began when Aizu Yaichi, a calligrapher, poet, and art historian who taught the history of Eastern art at Waseda University, advocated for the establishment of a comprehensive museum, stressing the importance of real materials in research. Aizu used his own salary, sold his own works, and occasionally received help from his former teacher to collect materials. The museum was established in 1998, 72 years after Aizu's appeal.

Kyoto University of Arts Art Museum (Kyoto/Kyoto City)

COLLECTOR: Naoyoshi Oe, Sosakon, Namio Egami

Works by faculty and artists, as well as our own collection. A place where you can rediscover new and old things.

The museum's collection includes local dolls and ukiyo-e prints donated by Oe Naokichi, who was the president of the predecessor Kyoto College of Art, Jomon pottery by poet So Tomochika, and Silk Road materials by archaeologist Egami Hajime. It's a typical Kyoto anecdote that the museum began collecting after receiving instruction in printmaking from Tokuriki Tomikichiro, a relative of Oe and the 12th generation of the family that is in charge of the Nishi Honganji Art Studio. The museum is also actively involved in collaborative projects between new works and items from its collection.

Kyoto Institute of Technology Arts and Crafts Museum (Kyoto/Kyoto City)

COLLECTOR: Tadashi Asai, Goichi Takeda, Togo Murano

Tracing the history of Japanese design from its early days to the present

The museum, which was formerly the Kyoto Higher School of Crafts (founded in 1902), where Japan's first full-scale design education was held, began its collection with the then professors Tadashi Asai and Goichi Takeda gathering posters for use as teaching materials in Europe. In 1994, the museum donated blueprints by Togo Murano, who worked on many creative buildings, including the Nippon Life Insurance Hibiya Building, and research into the project has been progressing ever since.

Tohoku Fukushi University Serizawa Keisuke Art and Craft Museum (Sendai, Miyagi)

COLLECTOR: Keisuke Serizawa, Chosuke Serizawa

A precious space where you can enjoy both Serizawa Keisuke's works and collection.

Serizawa Keisuke was one of Japan's leading dyers of stencil dyeing, and also a collector of crafts from around the world that were rooted in everyday life. This is where you can feel Serizawa's aesthetic sense and creative energy through both of these. Serizawa loved the Tohoku region throughout his life and wished for a display museum in Sendai as well. His eldest son, Serizawa Chosuke, inherited this wish and donated around 100 of his works and around 1,000 items from his collection, and this museum was born in 1989.

Musashino Art University Museum and Library (Takanodai, Tokyo)

COLLECTOR: Katsuhei Toyoguchi and others

A large collection of world-famous chairs from the late 19th century to the present day

The museum has a collection of approximately 40,000 artworks and design documents, but its core is a collection of 400 world-famous chairs dating from the late 19th century to the present. The collection began in the 1960s when the faculty, led by industrial designer and then-professor of the Department of Industrial, Craft and Design, Katsuhei Toyoguchi, suggested that "chairs are an ideal teaching material for students of product design."