Japanese Arts & Museums

• Art Research Center, Ritsumeikan University

  The list of searchable databases of various resources about Japanese Arts and Cultures that are held in Art Research Center at Ritsumeikan University.

• Database of National Important Cultural Properties

  The database of Nationally designated cultural assets, provided by Agency for Cultural Affairs.

• Digital Archves on Tobunken

  Compiled by Tokyo Research Institute for Cultural Properties. The site provides a range of databases on Japanese Arts.

• e-museum

  The site provides images of national treasures and important cultural properties owned by 4 national museums. Descriptions can be provided in multiple languages.

• English Resource Guide for Japanese Studies and Humanities in Japan

  Compiled by NIHU (National Institutes for the Humanities), this resource guide provides a collection of links to useful English websites and resources pertaining to Japanese Arts and Crafts.

• International Research Center for Japanese Studies

  Nichbunken (International Research Center for Japanese Studies) offers various useful databases and publications which open for public.

• JAANUS: Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System

  An on-line Dictionary of Japanese Architectural and Art Historical Terminology compiled by Dr. Mary N. Parent. It contains approximately 8000 terms related to traditional Japanese architecture and gardens, painting, sculpture and art-historical iconography from approximately the 1st century A.D. to the end of the Edo period (1868).

• JADS database

  Japan Art Documentation Society’s reference database which has over 1500 reference sources.

• The Japanese Garden Database

  A well-designed site, including links, images, tools, books, glossary, organisations and forum related to Japanese garden.

• Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties Database

  A collection of various databases, compiled by Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties. Small number of English databases are included.

• Searching for Ukiyo-e Illustration

  National Diet Library introduce various tools to search for ukiyo-e illustrations by artist and other criteria

• Tokyo Museum Collection

  A collection index site of “Edo-Tokyo Museum”, “Tokyo Photographic Art Museum”, “Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo” and “Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum”

• Ukiyo-e Search

  A database of Japanese woodblock print images and metadata aggregated from a variety of museums, universities, libraries, auction houses, and dealers around the world.

• Viewing Japanese Prints

  Comprehensive exploration of the history and technique of Japanese prints and printmaking, the work of famous printmakers, and images. Excellent FAQs.

• 「アニメ大全」

  publicly available Japanese Animation site

Information on Japanese Artists

• Japanese Artists at TOBUNKEN Research Collections
  English site to search for information on artists and people in the arts sector.
• Obituaries at TOBUNKEN Research Collections
  The database covers obituaries in the Japanese Art Yearbook which is published by Tokyo Institute of Cultural Properties. (2,817 entries)
• Japanese name information index database
  National Diet Library offers a database to search for personal names and information from Japanese books and magazines. 
• Shibunkaku
  The Database provides over 9,700 artist biographies in Japan.
• Japan Kogei Association
  You can search for the main works of human national treasures who hold titles of important intangible cultural assets in the traditional Japanese craft.
• Artis Japan
  The site provides information about 49,789 Artists in Japan, China, Korean, Europe and America.
• Jinmei Jiden
  The web-based biographic dictionary of artists, musician and authors from 17th -20th Century.

Information about Exhibitions

• Art Commons
  The National Art Center, Tokyo offers up-to-date information about current exhibition in nationwide.
• Artscape
  Providing exhibition schedules in Japan.
• Tokyo Art Beat
• Art exhibitions database at Tobunken
  The database offers information on Modern and Contemporary art exhibitions held in Japan between 1935 and 2013.
• Hakurankai Shiryo Collection
  Searchable database for information on Art Expos that were held from Meiji period to present. The site contains official records, posters, tickets and official goods over 10,000 materials on Art expo held in Japan and abroad