Gifts from Japan

Now–October 8, 2026

Conversations Gallery

In early 2025, the museum’s department of East Asian Art received a gift of 40 Japanese paintings from Dr. Toshihide Hirose, an orthodontist and art collector in Hirosaki, Japan. Dr. Hirose is an old and admired friend I first met through our shared research. In addition to his dental practice, Dr. Hirose engages in the research of local Japanese history and participates in regional art events. Through his interests in art, he became an avid collector of Japanese paintings of the late Meiji (1868–1912) and early Shōwa (1926–1989) eras.

Upon his pending retirement, Dr. Hirose gifted the majority of his Japanese painting collection to the Cincinnati Art Museum.  Four of the paintings relate directly to my earlier research on artists Hōen Yoshiteru (1866–1900) and Kagawa Hōen (1840–1912). 

In addition to Kagawa, the 40 gifted paintings represent the work of eight other artists: Tsuchiya Reisetsu (1881–1965), Tanaka Rankoku (1894–1959), Mochizuki Gyokusen (1834–1913), Yamamoto Shuntei (1889–1985), Kondo Suiseki (1870–1950), Maekawa Bunrei (1837–1917), Tatewaki Taizan (1886–1970), and Bunji Miura (1906–1994). Together, these artists covered a wide range of subjects, including legendary heroes, beautiful women, Kabuki actors, mythical gods, Daoist immortals, landscapes, flower-and-birds, and animals. With the rich narrative and historical contents of this pivotal time, these works have not only strengthened and extended the museum’s holdings of Japanese painting to the twentieth century—an intention of Dr. Hirose’s gift—but also greatly enriched the collection’s cultural and artistic scope.