about Misako Mitsui & Mitsui Fine Arts Inc.

Since 17th century, for many generations, both families of Misako Mitsui and of her late husband, the Endo and Mitsui, have been members of the enlightened merchant class of Kyoto, the Machi-shu, closely involved as patrons and participants in the way of tea. She has dedicated Mitsui Fine Arts, Inc., to Kyoto’s great aesthetic contributions in the arts. These creations of exquisite simplicity concentrate feeling and observation in a uniquely refined and satisfying way.

During her education and early professional career, Misako Mitsui focused on contemporary western art, until a chance encounter with a Kyo-ha painting directed her back to her roots. Her awareness of modernist, and especially minimalist, styles of western art made her sympathetic to the visual and poetic compression that marks the best of Kyo-ha. Over the last decade, she has renewed long-standing relationships with venerable Tea Masters and private art dealers in Kyoto, who very generously became mentors and provided entrance into the graciously cloistered art world of Kyoto. Misako Mitsui was educated as a child in the intricacies of the way of tea. This specialized aesthetic training is at the core of her intimacy with various art forms that were developed in Kyoto around the way of tea and informs her knowledge and appreciation of modernist and contemporary art..

The Mitsui Memorial Museum

Members of the Mitsui families have assembled the art works in the collection of The Mitsui Memorial Museum over the past three centuries and their preservation as a collection make these art works a preeminent element of Japanese cultural heritage. The Museum opened in October 2005 in Nihonbashi, a site closely related to the Mitsui Group Companies. The collections from the Mitsui Bunko Museum in Nakano ward, with many treasures of Japanese and Asian art, will move to the new museum.

The Mitsui Memorial Museum is located in the Mitsui Main Building. This western-style structure created in the early Showa era (1926-1989) has been designated as Important Cultural Property by the Japanese government.  Visitors  are encouraged to explore the true meaning of art and culture.