If you visit Rikugien Garden or Koishikawa Botanical Gardens, walk a little bit more and you will find a unique museum of Toyo Bunko Library. It was built in 1924 by Mitsubishi clan as a library for the oriental studies. Today, they have about one million books of Asian countries and it is one of the largest library for the oriental books.
The library has a huge collection of books of George Ernest Morison who was a journalist of London Times who stayed in Beijin during the late 19th century and the early 20th century. He donated his oriental books which amounted to 24 thousand to Hisaya Iwasaki who opened the library.
Morison Collection
The library of Morison Collection is very beautiful.
The museum has a large collection of Ukiyo-E Paintings and when I visited here, there were special exhibits related to the history of earthquakes around the world.
Ukiyo-E Painting in Toyo Bunko Library which depicts the earthquake in the form of catfish.
Old painting in Toyo Bunko Library which shows the places where fire occured during the Great Earthquake of Ansei in mid 19th Century.
This painting shows that houses wore sandals in old days.
Toyo Bunko has a beautiful green garden and a cosy cafe.
The Garden and a cafe.
For More Information on Toyo Bunko Library
Address: 28-21 Hon-Komagome 2-chome, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo
Opening hrs: 10 am – 7 pm (closed on Tuesdays and year-end and new-year holidays)
Orient Cafe opens 11:30 am – 9:30 pm.
Admissions: 900 yen for adults, 800 yen for 65 yrs and older, 700 yen for college students, 600 yen for high school students, 290 yen for elementary school students
Access: 8 min from Komagome Station of JR and Tokyo Metro Namboku Line
7 min from Sengoku Station of Toei Mita Line.
URL: http://www.toyo-bunko.or.jp/toyobunko-e/index.php
Near from Here:
Rikugi-en Garden
Koishikawa Botanical Gardens
Komagome Fuji
