The Tokyo National Museum is the one museum in Tokyo that is worth going out of your way to visit. Not only is it Japan’s largest museum, housing some 87,000 items, it also has the world’s largest collection of Japanese art. Only a portion of the museum’s huge collection is displayed at any one time.
The museum has four galleries, the most important of which is the Main Hall (Hon-kan). It houses a very impressive collection of Japanese art, from sculpture and swords to lacquerware and calligraphy. The Gallery of Eastern Antiquities has a collection of art and archaeological finds from all of Asia east of Egypt. The Hyōkei-kan has a collection of Japanese archaeological finds.
There is a room devoted to artefacts once used by the Ainu, the indigenous people of Hokkaidū. And perhaps best of all, there is the Gallery of Hōryūji Treasures, which houses some of Japan’s most important Buddhist artworks, all from Hōryū-ji in Nara.
