The Japan Ukiyo-e Museum houses over 100,000 wood block prints from the private collection of the Sakai Family. It is the largest collection of wood block prints in the world and is located in Matsumoto near the Matsumoto Open Air Architectural Museum. Yoshitaka Sakai was a wealthy merchant who started collecting wood block prints, which continued to grow through the generations of the Sakai Family. The Japan Ukiyo-e Museum was first established in 1982 by Tokichi Sakai. It was designed by Shinohara Kazuo as a storage space for the pieces of art, but it was later extended by the architect Haba Kuniharu in 1995. Alongside the limited displays of wood block prints from the collection, there is a movie detailing the history of the art form of ukiyo-e. Parts of the Sakai collection have been exhibited in Europe, South America, North America, Middle East, and East Asia.
