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The Yamatane Museum of Art opened in 1966 as the first museum specializing in Japanese-style painting, based on the private collection of Taneji Yamazaki (1893-1983, founder of Yamatane Securities [now SMBC Nikko Securities]).

The museum's collection consists of approximately 1,800 works of modern and contemporary Japanese painting, including old paintings, early modern paintings, ukiyo-e woodblock prints, and Western-style paintings. The collection also includes six important cultural properties, including Matabei Iwasa's "Chrysanthemum with a Lady", Chinzan Tsubaki's "A True View of Mt. Kunou", Seiho Takeuchi's " Hanneko", Kagaku Murakami's "Nude Woman", Goshu Hayami's "Fire Dance" and "Camellia Scattered with Meiju", and Hoitsu Sakai's "Quail in the Autumn Grass”.

The museum also holds 120 works from Hayami's collection, 77 works by Gyokudo Kawai, and 135 pieces from the preeminent Togyu Okumura collection, as well as many works by Taikan Yokoyama, Seiho Takeuchi, Shoen Uemura, Kaii Higashiyama, and other important artists in the field of modern Japanese painting.

In 2009, the museum moved to its current location in Hiroo, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, and now introduces its collection through special exhibitions held five or six times a year.

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