Okawa Museum of Art

The Okawa Museum of Art sits on the slope of Suidoyama, overlooking the city of Kiryu. Businessman Eiji Okawa, a Kiryu native, opened it in 1989 to show the works he had collected over about forty years.

The collection has more than 6,500 works, centered on modern Japanese Western-style painting. Its core is the collection of Shunsuke Matsumoto and Hideo Noda, said to be the largest in Japan. Matsumoto's Town (1938) and Canal Scene (1943) are among its best-known works. There are also Takeji Fujishima's sketches and works by Picasso, Miro, Rouault and Ben Shahn.

The museum organizes its displays around personal connections: teachers and students, friends and groups of artists connected to Matsumoto. The building, formerly a company dormitory of Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, was extended and remodeled by Matsumoto's son, Kan Matsumoto, as a skip-floor building along the slope. It also has a library, garden, cafe and museum shop. Nishi-Kiryu Station is about 8 minutes on foot. Check the official site for current hours.