is a private museum located in Kanazawa

Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama

is one of the 18 wards of the city of Yokohama in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 2010, the ward had an estimated population of 209,565 and a density of 6,760 persons per km². The total area was 31.01 km². The ward symbol, established 1987, expresses the image of sea, waves, and a sea...

 Ward

Wards of Japan

A is a subdivision of one of the cities of Japan that is large enough to have been designated by government ordinance. Wards are used to subdivide each city designated by government ordinance...

, Yokohama

Yokohama

is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. This museum features a private collection of traditional Japanese and Chinese art objects, which is made accessible to the general public.

The Kanazawa Bunko was originally a library, which it still is today primarily, but its collection also includes Japanese and Chinese art objects. It was one of the two most important centers of learning in medieval Japan, with Ashikaga Gakkō

Ashikaga Gakko

is Japan's oldest academic institution. It is located in Ashikaga city, Tochigi Prefecture, about 70 kilometres north of Tokyo. There has been some controversy as to when it was built, but it is said that it was founded in the ninth century and restored in 1432 by Deputy Shogun Uesugi Norizane; he...

 being the other. The library was opened in 1275 by Hōjō Sanetoki

Kanezawa Sanetoki

, also called was the founder of the Kanazawa Bunko . He was a member of the Kanezawa branch of the Hōjō clan.He was born to Hōjō Saneyasu in 1224. As his talent was discovered by his uncle Hōjō Yasutoki, Sanetoki was given important posts by four shikken: Yasutoki, Tsunetoki, Tokiyori and Tokimune...

 (1224-76), a grandson of Hōjō Yoshitoki

Hojo Yoshitoki

was the second Hōjō shikken of the Kamakura shogunate and head of the Hōjō clan. He was the eldest son of Hōjō Tokimasa and his wife Hōjō no Maki...

, second regent of the Kamakura shogunate

Kamakura shogunate

The Kamakura shogunate was a military dictatorship in Japan headed by the shoguns from 1185 to 1333. It was based in Kamakura. The Kamakura period draws its name from the capital of the shogunate...

.

The art collection of the Kanazawa Bunko includes Kamakura

Kamakura period

The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura Shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo....

 portraits, calligraphy

East Asian calligraphy

East Asian calligraphy is a form of calligraphy widely practised and revered in the Sinosphere. This most often includes China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. The East Asian calligraphic tradition originated and developed from China. There is a general standardization of the various styles of...

, Chinese and Japanese classics, Buddhist sutras, and Zen

Zen

Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...

 writings. It is housed in a building in the precincts of the temple Shōmyōji, though in a new building. The collection includes an eleven-headed Kannon (Goddess of Mercy), a Miroku

Maitreya

Maitreya , Metteyya , or Jampa , is foretold as a future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. In some Buddhist literature, such as the Amitabha Sutra and the Lotus Sutra, he or she is referred to as Ajita Bodhisattva.Maitreya is a bodhisattva who in the Buddhist tradition is to appear on...

, and other images designated as Important Cultural Properties

Important Cultural Properties of Japan

The term is often shortened into just are items officially already classified as Tangible Cultural Properties of Japan by the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs and judged to be of particular importance to the Japanese people....

.

Kanazawa-Bunko Station

Kanazawa-Bunko Station

is a railway station operated by the Keikyū Keikyū Main Line located in Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is located 39.5 rail kilometers from the northern terminus of the Keikyū Main Line at Shinagawa Station, in Tokyo...

 is a limited express

Limited express

A limited express is a type of express train service. It refers to an express service that stops at a limited number of stops in comparison to other express services on the same or similar routes.- Japan :...

 stop station on the Keikyu Main Line of Keikyu Railways.

35.34391°N 139.62875°W