The Baur Collection of ukiyo-e woodcuts by several of Japan's top masters is this country's own version of the Elgin Marbles. Perhaps this is why the 200 works are only on display so briefly. If you want to see these excellent examples of print art in their homeland, you have only a short time.
After leaving Tokyo today, the prints depart for a one-month stay at the Tokoha Museum in Kikunuma, Shizuoka Prefecture, before being spirited back to their hideaway amid the snows of the Swiss Alps in the museum established by the businessman and collector Alfred Baur (1865-1951) shortly before his death.
The Japanese must have mixed feelings about such an extensive collection being built up by a foreigner during their country's less prosperous years. Mixed with a certain resentment, there must be some guilt over the neglect of native masterpieces, perhaps allayed with a sense of gratification that the works were so appreciated overseas.