Akino Fuku Museum looks out on Tenryu Futamata Town from its green hilltop surroundings．The Museum opened officially in April, 1998 and is playing an important roll in fulfilling the goal of making Tenryu “a city fragrant with the aroma of culture”. The building is two stories high and was constructed using Tenryu cedars and its walls are plastered with “sikkui”traditional stucco. Many other natural materials were also used, making it unique as an art museum. It was designed by Fujimori Terunobu. On the first floor are located the permanent exhibition rooms. On the second floor, there are the visiting exhibition room, the local City Gallery and special exhibition rooms with lecture facilities. There rooms are used to introduce the works of Akino Fuku and can also be used for local resident activities. Akino Fuku was born in 1908 at Futamata-cho in Hamamatsu City. She studied art under Ishii Rinkyo and Nishiyama Suisho and, at the age of 28, won the Shinbunten prize. From that time onward, she continued to attract attention as a talented artist. Shortly after World War Ⅱ, she set for herself the goal of establishing a new form of Japanese painting by participating in a Japanese artist’s movement that became known as “Sozobijyutu”. During this period, she departed from the traditional visual forms of Japanese painting and brought into her creative work many of the elements of Western-style painting. When she was 54, she became a visiting professor at a university in India. From that time onward, she became captivated by India and visited the country several times, doing many paintings using the temples and scenery as her motifs. Not limiting her travels India only, she also visited Afghanistan, Nepal and Cambodia, looking for place to create her art.
At this museum, her traditional period works and a number of her Indian works are on permanent display. In addition, there are also temporary exhibits and special theme exhibitions during the year. Please visit the museum and enjoy her works.