KAITA EPITAPH Zanshou Museum

Overview

The KAITA EPITAPH Zanshou Museum is an art museum in the Maeyama area of Ueda, Nagano. Formerly known as the Shinano Dessan-kan (Shinano Drawing Museum), it has long been cherished as a quiet place to contemplate the works and drawings of painters who died young. Set in the tranquil Maeyama district on the edge of Ueda, overlooking the Shioda plain, this small museum holds a distinctive air, its name evoking the epitaph and the lingering afterglow of talents lost too soon.

Highlights

• ●A distinctive exhibition space for quietly contemplating painters who died young
• ●A reverence for drawing inherited from the former Shinano Dessan-kan
• ●The sense of remembrance held in the name Zanshou (lingering afterglow) and Epitaph
• ●A tranquil setting in Maeyama, Ueda, overlooking the Shioda plain

History

The museum's predecessor was the Shinano Dessan-kan (Shinano Drawing Museum), and today it carries that spirit forward as the KAITA EPITAPH Zanshou Museum. The words KAITA and EPITAPH in its name express remembrance for artists who left the world young. For details of its collection, exhibition changes, and opening days, please refer to official information.

Map

36.3421, 138.1975 · Wikidata

Suggested itinerary

1. 1Drive from central Ueda to the Maeyama district and the Zanshou Museum
2. 2Face the works of the young-departed painters unhurried in the quiet halls
3. 3Stroll the rural scenery and historic sites of the Shioda plain
4. 4Round out the day by heading on to central Ueda or Bessho Onsen

Did you know?

💡 The word EPITAPH in the museum's name refers to an inscription on a tombstone, expressing a wish to convey quietly, as a lingering afterglow, the works of painters who died young. The reverence for drawing carried over from its days as the Shinano Dessan-kan shapes the character of this small museum.

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