MOA Museum of Art

Located in Atami, Japan, the MOA Museum of Art houses a collection of East Asian art, including National Treasures like Ogata Korin’s “Red and White Plum Blossoms.”

Planning your visit

The MOA sits above Atami on the Izu peninsula, and the approach is deliberately theatrical: a sequence of long escalators rises through the hillside inside a tunnel, opening onto a hall with a kaleidoscope projection before reaching the galleries, which look out over Sagami Bay.

The collection holds three designated National Treasures, of which the best known is Ogata Kōrin's Red and White Plum Blossoms, a pair of screens from the early eighteenth century in which a stylised stream in silver and gold runs between two blossoming trees. It is displayed only for a limited period each year, usually around February, so timing matters if it is the reason for visiting.

Alongside sit Japanese and Chinese ceramics, calligraphy, lacquer and Buddhist sculpture. A reconstruction of Hideyoshi's portable golden tea room is a further draw.

The 2017 redisplay by Hiroshi Sugimoto is itself admired.

Atami is under an hour from Tokyo by shinkansen. Allow two hours. The main booking is an admission package. Current availability is shown below.