Namikawa Cloisonné Museum of Kyoto

Highlight

Visitors can sit and view the garden from the main house, which sits astride the flowing waters of the garden (designated as a place of scenic beauty by Kyoto City)

Captivating artworks await at this mansion museum

Using the artist’s studio home, this museum was opened to commemorate Japan’s finest cloisonné artist Yasuyuki Namikawa. The collection is made up of Namikawa’s cloisonné art, sketches and tools, which are rotated with the seasons to exhibit them all. The collection features yusen-shippo, a method of using wire on the ware to contain the enamel, which offers vivid, deep colors that blend superbly with the unique shapes of the wares. He used various designs, including flowers, birds and butterflies.
The building housing the museum was built in 1894 as a kyo-machiya that served as home and studio to Yasuyuki Namikawa, and still retains that Meiji architecture, which means the kiln and other tools of his art as well as the rooms he lived in are intact and available for viewing.
Originally siphoned from the Lake Biwako Canal for grinding enamel, the water piped to the house also flows through the famed garden, which was landscaped by Jihei Ogawa VII. Glass sliding doors were fitted into the main house for people to enjoy the picturesque view.