Imperial Collections Museum to Fully Reopen Nov. 3

Tokyo, Sept. 4 (Jiji Press)–The Museum of the Imperial Collections, located at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, will fully reopen Nov. 3 following the completion of its second phase of renovations, it was announced Friday. The museum, also known as Sannomaru Shozokan, houses about 21,000 artworks and crafts passed down by the Imperial Family. The museum originally opened in 1993 to preserve and display artworks and crafts donated to the government following the death of Emperor Hirohito, posthumously Emperor Showa. After its collection increased, the renovation project began in 2019 to expand the exhibition space nearly eightfold to about 1,300 square meters. The museum partially reopened in 2023. From Nov. 3 through May, the museum will hold three special exhibitions to commemorate the full reopening. They will feature national treasures from the museum’s collection and treasures from the eighth-century Shosoin repository in Nara Prefecture, western Japan. The second exhibition, beginning in February, will display 30 pieces of “Doshoku Sai-e,” a major work by Ito Jakuchu, a mid-Edo period painter. Admission fees will be 2,500 yen for the first and third exhibitions and 3,000 yen for the second. Students and people under 23 will be admitted free of charge. Reservations for specific entry times will be required for all exhibitions. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]