Chihiro Art Museum Azumino

Illustrated book artist Chihiro Iwasaki always wished for happiness and peace for children. Visit her hometown Azumino and see her work and picture books from other countries.

Chihiro Art Museum currates the pieces by Chihiro Iwasaki and other Japanese illustrators, nearly 27,400 pieces by 211 painters from Europe, America, Asia, Eastern Europe, South America, Africa, etc. The collection is quite precious internationally, as the original illustrations for children’s books are viewed as art. This is the world’s first picture book museum.

Azumino Chihiro Art Museum was opened in 1997 when The Chihiro Art Museum in Tokyo had its 20th-year anniversary. Her parents were from Shinshu Region, where Chihiro Iwasaki visited a number of times and created many sketches.

So children who come to a museum for the first time in their lives can enjoy it, Various exhibitions and events as “the First Museum” are planned for families with small children. Surrounded by the Northern Alps, the vast Azumino Chihiro Park stretches outside, including Totto-chan Hiroba where the “Train Classroom” is recreated which is described in chihiro’s illustration in “Totto-chan: the Little Girl by the Window.” (written by the museum’s president, Tetsuko Kuroyanagi)