“100 Selected Tea Bowls from the Museum Collection” at Mitsui Memorial Museum Until November 23; From the National Treasure “Unohanagaki” to Raku and Handmade Tea Bowls

“100 Selected Tea Bowls from the Museum Collection: From National Treasures to Handmade Tea Bowls” is on view at the Mitsui Memorial Museum in Nihonbashi, Tokyo. It runs from Saturday, September 12 to Monday, November 23 (national holiday), 2026. From the museum’s tea bowls, it selects 100, including the National Treasure “Shino Tea Bowl, named Unohanagaki” and five Important Cultural Properties, and presents them in six chapters: Chinese (karamono), Korean (Korai), Japanese (wamono), Raku, Eiraku (Hozen and Wazen) and handmade tea bowls. It is the museum’s first tea bowl exhibition drawn from its own collection in about 30 years, since “Thirty Selected Famous Tea Bowls of the Mitsui Family” in 1995.

Why a tea bowl exhibition now? Tea bowls collected by the Mitsui family over more than 300 years

The Mitsui Memorial Museum opened in October 2005, when the Mitsui Bunko Annex, which houses Japanese and East Asian art, moved to Nihonbashi. The galleries are on the 7th floor of the Mitsui Main Building, completed in 1929 and designated a national Important Cultural Property in 1998. The collection comprises about 4,000 works of fine and decorative art and about 130,000 stamps, including six National Treasures and 75 Important Cultural Properties. At its core are tea utensils.

According to the museum, after Mitsui Takatoshi opened the Echigoya store in 1673, his children established branch families, eventually numbering 11 houses, each of which collected art. The collection consists of donations including about 1,900 items from the Kita family, about 1,050 from the Shinmachi family and about 700 from the Muromachi family. There are well over 200 tea bowls alone, gathered over more than 300 years.

The 1995 “Thirty Selected” exhibition was held at the Mitsui Bunko Annex. According to the museum, this exhibition includes all the famous bowls selected at that time, and a new catalogue is also being published.

What can be seen? National Treasures, Important Cultural Properties and the layout by gallery

Gallery 1 displays the five Important Cultural Properties and tea bowls representative of the museum, in the order of Chinese, Korean and Japanese bowls. The Important Cultural Properties are the Southern Song “Tortoiseshell Glaze Tea Bowl (Ran Tenmoku),” the “Kohiki Tea Bowl (Miyoshi Kohiki),” said to have been owned by Miyoshi Nagayoshi, Raku Chojiro’s “Black Raku Tea Bowl, named Shunkan,” Raku Donyu’s “Red Raku Tea Bowl, named Nue” and Hon’ami Koetsu’s “Black Raku Tea Bowl, named Amagumo.” Also shown here are the “Ko-Mishima Tea Bowl (Nitoku Mishima),” said to have been owned by Sen no Rikyu, the “O-Ido Tea Bowl (Kanbayashi Ido),” said to have been owned by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and the “O-Ido Tea Bowl, named Shumi,” said to have been owned by Furuta Oribe.

Gallery 2 displays a single work: the National Treasure “Shino Tea Bowl, named Unohanagaki” (Momoyama period, 16th–17th century, formerly owned by the Muromachi Mitsui family). According to the museum, two Japanese-made tea bowls have been designated National Treasures; the other is Hon’ami Koetsu’s white Raku tea bowl named Fujisan (Sunritz Hattori Museum of Arts).

Gallery 3 is a space modeled on Joan, the tea room of Oda Uraku. The National Treasure tea room Joan was owned by the Kita Mitsui family from 1908 and, after passing to Nagoya Railroad after the war, was relocated to Inuyama City. A letter by Uraku hangs in the alcove, combined with the “O-Ido Tea Bowl (Uraku Tea Bowl),” said to have been owned by Uraku, a bamboo tea scoop made by Uraku and other items.

Gallery 4 displays the remaining five Chinese, 12 Korean and 11 Japanese bowls in roughly chronological order. They include the “Totoya Tea Bowl, named Kasumi,” the “Iga Tea Bowl, named Sairenji” and Nonomura Ninsei’s “Tea Bowl with Scale Design in Overglaze Enamels.”

Highlights of the second half: from Raku and Eiraku to the Mitsui family’s handmade bowls

Chapter 4, “Raku Tea Bowls,” displays 12 bowls by successive generations of the Raku family in roughly chronological and generational order. It begins with Raku Chojiro’s “Black Raku Shallow Tea Bowl” and continues through Raku Donyu’s “Red Raku Tea Bowl, named Sairai,” owned by Mitsui Takatoshi, and the “Red Raku Daifuku Tea Bowl,” fired by Raku Sanyu with calligraphy by Mitsui Takahira and painting by Mitsui Takafusa, to the “Yakinuki Black Raku Tea Bowl, named Ame ni Sasagu,” made by Raku Jikinyu in 2003.

Chapter 5, “Eiraku Tea Bowls (Hozen and Wazen),” presents 32 entries (35 pieces) by Eiraku Hozen and Eiraku Wazen, who had close ties with the Mitsui family, and spans Galleries 5 to 7. Gallery 7 shows Wazen’s “Kikutani Ware Tea Bowls with Pictures of the Twelve Months” (12 bowls) of 1887 and the “Tenmoku Tea Bowl with Phoenix Design in Gold on Red Ground,” used for a tea offering to Emperor Meiji in the same year.

The final Chapter 6, “Handmade Tea Bowls,” presents 13 entries (15 pieces) made not by professional potters but by sukisha, connoisseurs devoted to the tea ceremony. They include the “Blue Raku Tea Bowl” made by Mitsui Takahira in 1725, the “Red Raku Tea Bowl with Turtle Design” (1819), made by Mitsui Takasuke at the Kairakuen kiln, the garden kiln of the Kishu domain, with painting by Tokugawa Harutomi, and the “Tea Bowl with Rice Plants, named Golden Waves” (1944, Shiroyama kiln), a joint work by Mitsui Takamine and his wife.

Tickets, prices, reservations and a Saturday lecture

Admission is 1,200 yen for adults, 700 yen for university and high school students and 1,000 yen for those 70 and over (proof required), and free for junior high school students and younger. Groups of 20 or more pay 1,000 yen (adults) and 600 yen (university and high school students). Holders of a disability certificate and one caregiver are admitted free. Visitors who show their ticket stub during the run can enter at the group rate on later visits.

No reservation is needed, and entry may be restricted when crowded. The audio guide is in Japanese only and costs 800 yen to rent; the narrator is Makoto Yasumura.

The Saturday lecture “100 Selected Tea Bowls from the Museum Collection” by Minoru Shimizu, counselor of the museum, was fully booked for its October 10 session, so an additional session with the same content will be held on Saturday, November 7, 14:00–15:30. The venue is the museum’s lecture room, with a capacity of 50 (first come, first served by application), and the fee is 1,000 yen. According to the museum, applications are accepted from 10:00 on Wednesday, October 14, at the museum’s reception or via Peatix (advance payment).

Access and opening hours

The address is Mitsui Main Building 7F, 2-1-1 Nihonbashi Muromachi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, and the entrance is in the 1st-floor atrium of Nihonbashi Mitsui Tower. It is a 1-minute walk from Exit A7 of Mitsukoshimae Station on the Tokyo Metro Ginza and Hanzomon Lines, a 4-minute walk from Exit B9 of Nihombashi Station on the Ginza and Tozai Lines, and a 7-minute walk from the Nihonbashi Exit of JR Tokyo Station. There is no dedicated parking.

Opening hours are 10:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30). The museum is closed on Mondays, but open on November 2 and on the final day, November 23. From Saturday, December 12, the museum will hold “National Treasure Pine Trees in Snow and the Four Seasons” (until Saturday, January 30, 2027).

Editor’s perspective

The exhibition is anchored by the National Treasure and Important Cultural Properties in Galleries 1 and 2, but the three chapters in the second half show that the Mitsui family not only collected tea bowls but also engaged with the Eiraku potters and made tea bowls themselves. The handmade bowls range in date from 1725 to 1944.

For another place to compare tea bowls, there is the special exhibition “Daitokuji: Japan’s Unrivaled Zen Temple” at the Tokyo National Museum (until December 6). It shows the National Treasure “O-Ido Tea Bowl, named Kizaemon Ido” throughout its run, offering a chance to view Ido tea bowls together with the three O-Ido bowls in Galleries 1 and 3 of this exhibition (Kanbayashi Ido, Shumi and the Uraku Tea Bowl). Tea utensils collected by modern sukisha can also be seen in “Buson, Goshun and Masterpieces of the Tea Ceremony” at the Suntory Museum of Art (until November 8).

Overview

Name: 100 Selected Tea Bowls from the Museum Collection: From National Treasures to Handmade Tea Bowls
Dates: Saturday, September 12 – Monday, November 23 (national holiday), 2026
Hours: 10:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30)
Closed: Mondays (open on September 21, October 12, November 2 and November 23), Tuesday, October 13
Venue: Mitsui Memorial Museum
Address: Mitsui Main Building 7F, 2-1-1 Nihonbashi Muromachi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo (entrance in the 1st-floor atrium of Nihonbashi Mitsui Tower)
Admission: Adults 1,200 yen (groups 1,000 yen), university and high school students 700 yen (groups 600 yen), 70 and over 1,000 yen (proof required), junior high school students and younger free. Holders of a disability certificate and one caregiver free. Groups are 20 or more people
Organizer: Mitsui Memorial Museum
Inquiries: 050-5541-8600 (Hello Dial)
Official website: https://www.mitsui-museum.jp/exhibition/index.html
*Information as of October 19, 2026. Please check the official website for the latest information.

*Top image: The Mitsui Main Building, home to the Mitsui Memorial Museum, March 2007 (photo: 663highland, CC BY 2.5, from Wikimedia Commons)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on press materials from the Mitsui Memorial Museum (June 17, 2026) and information on its official website.

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team