Nestled into the hillside above the Tama River amid the lush greenery of the Okutama area of western Tokyo is the Gyokudo Art Museum, dedicated to the paintings of Gyokudo Kawai (1873-1957), one of the masters of Nihonga. Looking more like a hot springs resort than a museum, the facility is well worth the long train ride into the hills from downtown Tokyo. While enjoying the exhibits, visitors can also experience the timelessness engendered by the blissful contemplation of art in a natural setting.

The museum building was Gyokudo's home, and it has lost none of the warm, relaxed feeling of a mountain retreat. Gyokudo spent the last ten years of his life there painting the beauty of nature, one of his enduring themes. The museum changes its exhibits several times a year to showcase the subtlety with which he painted nature's changes through the seasons, as well as his prolific creativity. A family enterprise currently run by Gyokudo's granddaughter, the museum holds a large collection of his work.

Other paintings highlight his unique, personal style, which often exudes a lively vitality and humorous warmth. Even in paintings of traditional subjects, which he returned to in his later years, his lines radiate a contemporary energy that is all his own. The newer style developed after Gyokudo moved to Tokyo in 1896, where he helped start a number of the painting schools and salons that would later evolve into the Tokyo University of the Arts, still one of the most influential art schools in Japan. Paintings from these various periods of his career are exhibited at some point in the course of each year.

The museum also holds many photos of his early life in Tokyo, his studios and art schools, his meeting with the Emperor, and the Order of Culture he received in 1940, one of the highest awards bestowed by the Japanese government. One room of the museum preserves his studio, with floor-to-ceiling windows looking out on a spectacular panorama of his garden, the Tama River, and the mountains beyond. It's a wonder he could get any work done with such a stunning view.

The museum also contains Gyokudo's studio, which looks out on the garden and the river and mountainside beyond.

The museum is enhanced by an impressive karesansui Japanese rock garden just outside the studio and exhibit rooms. This style of garden is a rarity in Tokyo, and one this extensive is rare in any big city. The expanse of rocks and raked gravel stretches to a low wall, beyond which can be seen the even larger boulders that give the Tama River its special character and are a draw for rock climbers from Tokyo.

Take a few minutes to sit and contemplate the garden, the river, and the sharp rise of the mountains beyond. It is hard to imagine that you are, technically at least, still in Tokyo: it feels like you are inside one of his paintings. Then, linger a while longer over a cup of tea at Imotoya, the restaurant next door, or wander down the path running along the river. Surely that's what Gyokudo would have done, in a place where art and nature come so close together.

Gyokudo Kawai, Tao Yuanming (1902). The influence of the Kano school of Chinese-style painting is clear in the calm, meditative intensity and fine brushwork of this portrait of a Chinese poet of the Sixth Dynasties period.		Gyokudo Kawai, Red and White Plum (1919). The delicacy of the plum blossoms and branches exemplifies Gyokudo’s studied attention to nature in all its shapes. All photos by permission and courtesy of the Gyokudo Art Museum. Exterior photos by Michael Pronko.

Gyokudo Art Museum (in Japanese only) 1-75 Mitake, Ome City, Tokyo Phone: 0428-78-8335 Open: 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (last entry 4 p.m.) through February; to 5 p.m. (last entry 4:30) March to November. Closed Monday, or the following day when Monday is a holiday, and December 24 to January 4. Access: Five minutes by foot from Mitake Station on the JR Ome Line, 1 1/2 hours from Shinjuku Station.

	Michael Pronko Michael Pronko teaches American literature, film, art and music at Meiji Gakuin University. He has appeared on NHK, Sekai Ichiban Uketai Jugyo, and other TV programs. His publications include several textbooks and three collections of essays about Tokyo. He writes regular columns for Newsweek Japan, ST Shukan, The Japan Times, and for his own websites, Jazz in Japan and Essays on English in Japan.