A prefectural museum is a museum that specializes in collections local to a prefecture of Japan.
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Prefectural museums emerged in postwar Japan, and since these institutions are of recent origin their collections tend not to contain older Japan arts, with primarily Meiji era, 20th-century, and contemporary art. Most prefectural museums feature collections of arts, culture, and history with a strong emphasis on their native prefecture, but can exhibit works and collections from outside of the prefecture alongside the native collections, usually contemporary art from cultural centers such as Tokyo and exotic art from outside Japan. For example, the Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum specializing in art related to the city of Nagasaki also houses a collection of paintings from Spain belonging to a Japanese collector.
Prefectural museums tend to be large and some are more distinguished for their own architecture than for the collections they hold. Noted architect Kunio Maekawa designed both the Kumamoto Prefectural Art Museum in Kumamoto as well as the Saitama Prefectural Museum at Ōmiya Ward, Saitama. [1] [2]