Neiraku Art Museum (an art museum in Nara City, Nara Prefecture) (寧楽美術館)

Neiraku Art Museum is an art museum located in Nara City, Nara Prefecture.

Summary

It keeps two thousand several hundred artworks which fortunately escaped the major air raid on Kobe City out of over the 10,000 artworks collected by the three generations of Junsaku NAKAMURA, Junichi NAKAMURA and Junsuke NAKAMURA who made a fortune in the shipping business. They include bronze wares, old mirrors, kodoin (ancient bronze seals) and engraved prints of ancient China, ceramic wares of China, Goryeo, Yi Dynasty Korea and Japan, and 'Mata Mata Ichirakucho' (Little Pleasures), Gajo (an album of paintings) of Chikuden TANOMURA. Some of the items on exhibit are changed from the mid July to the early August every year. This museum was constructed in 1969 in Isuien Garden, kaiyushiki-shakkei garden (Japanese style borrowed landscape garden with a path around a central pond) which was bought in 1939 and organized by the Nakamura family. The admission ticket is valid for both Neiraku Art Museum and Isuien Garden.

By the way, Neiraku is one of the old expressions for 'Nara.'
However, if it had been named 'Nara Bijutsukan' (Nara Museum of Art), it could have been mixed up with 'Nara Kenritsu Bijutsukan' (Nara Prefectural Museum of Art), so it was decided to be read as 'Neiraku.'

Major collected items

Mata Mata Ichirakucho by Chikuden TANOMURA: A national important cultural property, which is opened to the public at around the time of Omizutori (Water-Drawing Festival) in spring and of Shoso-in Exhibition (Exhibition of Shoso-in Treasure Repository) in fall.

Access

Approximately 15 minute-walk from the Kintetsu Nara Station

[Original Japanese]