The Tokugawa Art Museum, located in the city of Nagoya, possesses a vast number of historic treasures that once belonged to the Owari Tokugawa family. This was the most senior of the three branches that made up the mighty Tokugawa shogunate, the military government that ruled Japan from 1603 to 1867. This special exhibition is a chance to glimpse the most breathtaking of these artefacts, here in Tokyo.
Objects once beloved by generations of this powerful and affluent clan span the halls of the Suntory Museum of Art. Together these reveal how the clan’s activities encompassed both the warfare necessary to uphold its reign, and cultural pursuits that displayed great sensitivity: formidable suits of armour, for example, are offset by elegant utensils used for tea ceremony and incense appreciation.
Highlights include The Hatsune Furnishings, a designated National Treasure which consists of 70 opulent pieces crafted for the wedding of Princess Chiyo (1637-1698), eldest daughter of the third shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu, who married at the age of just two!