Japan Guide
Northern Honshū
Hirano Masakichi Art Museum
The Hirano Masakichi Bijutsukan is located on the second floor of the otherwise uninteresting Prefectural Art Museum (entry is via the exterior stairway to the right of the main entrance). The Hirano museum has a valuable collection of work by Western artists, including Goya, Picasso, Rubens and Rembrandt, but it's more memorable for an enormous canvas (3.65m by 20.5m) by the local artist Fujita Tsuguhara (1886–1968). The panel, entitled Events in Akita, depicts Akita's annual festivals and takes up one wall of the museum. It was completed in an incredible fifteen days in 1937, after which the wall of Tsuguhara's studio had to be knocked down to get it out. Opening time: Tues– Sun 10am–5/5.30pm Price: ¥610