◆Sankei as a Patron of the Arts

“His contributions in nurturing young artists should never be forgotten.”
Maeda Seison wrote in his memoirs of Sankei as follows: “His great contributions to art in Japan were not limited to preserving the arts of years gone by. . . . What made him so admirable was that he not only collected old art and made it freely available to us painters to guide and inspire us to develop new art. He also worked directly to cultivate and aid the development of young painters.”
Sankei gave 100 yen a month in assistance to up-and-coming artists at a time when it was possible to live on 6 yen a month. He held residential artist symposiums at Sankeien where artists could stay in his house and learn from one another while studying his precious collection. Yasuda Yukihiko always felt gratitude and deep respect for Sankei and called these study meetings at Sankeien “something like paradise.”
“There is no room in art for egotism and putting on airs,” Sankei said of his assistance to talented young artists. “I want them to enjoy exploring a world they have discovered themselves, however great or small it may be.” Sankei was a true man of culture, who deeply loved and understood art. He became affectionately known as the “Koetsu of the modern era” after the man who inspired the Rinpa school in the seventeenth century.

◆Cultivator of the Arts　Sankei’s Support of Young Artists

1899　Friendship with Okakura Tenshin begins around this time.

1911　Following a request from Okakura Tenshin, begins to provide support to Yokoyama Taikan, Shimomura Kanzan, Yasuda Yukihiko, Imamura Shiko, Kobayashi Kokei, and Maeda Seison. Also gives support to sculptors Hirakushi Denchu and Sato Chozan.

1912　Shimomura Kanzan and Maeda Seison paint important works during their stays at Sankeien: Shikisokazu（Flowing Plants of the Four Seasons, destroyed in the Great Kanto Earthquake) at the Shofukaku and Mikoshi-buri (Shrine-Carrying, now in the Tokyo National Museum). Sankei holds art appreciation sessions based on his own old art collection every month.

1913  Invites Shimomura Kanzan to move into a house in Honmoku Wadayama, close to Sankeien. Yokoyama Taikan paints Rhuin (In the Shade of Willows, now in the Tokyo National Museum) at Sankeien. Begins to support Hayami Gyoshu and Omoda Seiju.

1914　 Becomes a patron and trustee of the reestablished Nihon Bijutsuin.

1915　 Shimomura Kanzan paints his masterpiece Yoroboshi (The Beggar Monk, now in the Tokyo National Museum) drawing on the motif of the plum trees in the garden.

1916　 Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore stays for three months at the Shofukaku, where he writes “Stray Birds.” Tagore visited Sankeien again in 1924 and 1929.

1923　Suspends support to artists following the Great Kanto Earthquake.

“He was an artist of rare talents” Maeda Seison

“In painting, the quality of his flower and bird motifs was nothing short of outstanding. His paintings had a high-toned and extremely individual sensibility to them. They were the kind of paintings that specialists like us could never have painted. We really had to bow our heads to him for that.” (Fujimoto Jitsuya, “A Biography of Hara Sankei”)

◆Sankei as Artist and Connoisseur
“The world of art is a separate world of freedom that can be found nowhere else.”

Sankei was a collector of great significance in the history of modern Japanese art, a patron who provided crucial support to up-and-coming artists, and an artist in his own right. Nothing gave him more pleasure than painting. He was a connoisseur on the grand scale with a deep love and appreciation for gardens, architecture, and the tea ceremony.
In art as in business, Sankei disliked ego. He worked hard to build a systematic collection of art, looking for works with a crucial importance in art history, regardless of his personal tastes. Rather than hiding the collection away for his private enjoyment, he went out of his way to share it for the benefit and inspiration of young artists and the enjoyment of the general public.
Besides his major project of building a systematic collection of Japanese and East Asian art, he put his refinement and attentiveness to use in many ways, designing his own chairs and treating tea ceremony guests to recipes of his own creation, including rengehan lotus rice and Sankei noodles.
Sankei rejoiced in the world of art, enjoying another life in what which he himself described as “a separate world of freedom.”



◆Sankei as Artist and Connoisseur

1893　Begins collecting art around this time; over the course of his life, his collection will eventually amount to some 4,000 pieces. 

1903　 Buys the painting Kujaku Myoo (Mahamayuri) from Meiji statesman Inoue Kaoru (the painting is now a national treasure in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum). Becomes passionate about collecting old art.

1905　Purchases Enmaten-zo (Picture of the demon Enma, now an important cultural property in the collection of the MIHO MUSEUM) and Ippen Shonin Eden (Pictorial Biography of the Saint Ippen, now a national treasure in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum). 

1907　Charles Lang Freer, founder of the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, visits and is deeply impressed by Sankei’s collection of old Japanese art.  

1913　Collection of half-size (hansetsu) paintings by young artists shown as part of the Sankei Art Exhibition.

1922　Masuda Takashi (Donno) donates the Hakuundo villa in Gora, Hakone.

1923　Holds the Daishikai tea ceremony to celebrate the completion of the inner garden, with tea masters Masuda Takashi (Donno) and Nezu Kaichiro (Seizan). A planned color catalogue of his collection in seven volumes is lost when the earthquake strikes shortly before scheduled publication, with only a handwritten manuscript of the notes surviving.

1927　An exhibition of “Japanese Paintings from the Collection of Hara Tomitaro” held at the Silk Inspection Center. A total of 50 paintings are shown including works by Yokoyama Taikan, Shimomura Kanzan, Hayami Gyoshu, Hishida Shunso, Imamura Shiko, and Kobayashi Kokei.

1930　An edited edition of his paintings is published as “Pictorial Works of Sankei, Volume 1.”

1935　Five works in the Hara collection, including the Nezame monogatari emaki scroll (Tale of Nezame scroll, now a national treasure) are designated Important Artworks by the government.

1936　A movement to build an art museum to house the Hara collection starts, led by Yashiro Yukio. 

1937　Volumes 2 and 3 of “Pictorial Works of Sankei” published.

1938　Private publication of Yogi (Pastimes).  

1939　Donates several items from the collection of the retired Emperor Go-Toba, including the emperor’s portrait (now a national treasure) to the imperial household to mark 700 years since his death in exile.

◆ Chronology of the Sankeien

1868 Hara Zenzaburo purchases the plot on which the Sankeien now stands and lays out the area as his villa retreat.

1902 Sankei moves his main residence from Nogeyama to Sankeien. The Juto Oido building of the old Tenzuiji temple (important cultural property) is moved here from Daitokuji Obaiin. The main residence Kakushokaku is also built around this time. 

1906 The Sankeien garden is completed and opened to the public. 

1907 The Buddhist sanctum from Tokeiji temple in Kamakura (important cultural property) is relocated to Sankeien. 

1908 A banquet is held to celebrate the replanting of plum trees on the site. The Yokobuean is built. 

1914 The Three-story pagoda (important cultural property) moved here from Tomyoji and competed.

1916　Tenjuin (important cultural property) relocated to this site.

1917 Rinshunkaku (important cultural property) relocated to this site and completed. Rengein constructed.

1918 Gekkagen (important cultural property) and Shunsoro (important cultural property) moved to this site. Kinmokutsu built.

1920　Hakuuntei built.

1922 Choshukaku (important cultural property) moved to this site. (This was the last building to be relocated by Sankei himself.)

1923　Holds the Daishikai tea ceremony featuring illustrious tea masters to mark the completion of the inner garden. Masuda Takashi (Donno) and Nezu Kaichiro (Seizan) are among those performing the ceremony. The gardens and buildings are seriously damaged in the Great Kanto Earthquake. 

1945　Major damage during air raids on Yokohama. 

1953 Forms Sankeien Hoshokai foundation to preserve its beauty, which continues to this day as the public interest incorporated foundation. Restoration work begins.

1954 Opens the outer garden to the public for the first time after improvements and restorations. 

1958 Inner garden opened to the public.

1960 Former Yanoharake house (important cultural property) moved to the site from Shirakawago in Gifu Prefecture.

1963 Land reclamation work begins on the Honmoku coastline.

1970 The Rindoan teahouse is donated by the Rindo Group of Sohen-ryu. 

1976 Nihonga painters Nakajima Kiyoshi and his son Chinami begin work to preserve the murals and screen paintings in Rinshunkaku and Gekkaden. The project takes 11 years to complete.

1986 The main hall of Tomyoji (important cultural property) moved to Sankeien. 

1989　The Sankei Memorial opens in the inner garden. 

2000 Restoration and repair work on the former Hara residence. Work completed on Kakushokaku.

2006 The park celebrates its centenary. 

2007 The park is officially designated a national place of scenic beauty.