The Nezu Museum is currently showing "Ceramics and Ukiyo-e Masterpieces from the Hagi Uragami Museum," an exhibition of outstanding artworks collected over the years by the entrepreneur Toshiro Uragami, who donated them to the Hagi Uragami Museum in Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1996.
How did Uragami, who is still an avid collector at the age of 87, hone his skills of connoisseurship and shape such a collection? The simple answer is that he has always demonstrated a deep passion for art, and in doing so he developed a profound knowledge of ukiyo-e (woodblock print) masters and the print market, choosing to focus on acquiring early editions that preserved original designs and their brilliant colors.
An enterprising individual who got his start in trading before he went on to develop a successful business in the mining industry, Uragami's zeal for collecting has been a life-long obsession. In a recent interview, he exclaimed: "I wouldn't trade my love of art collecting for anything in the entire world!"