Before it was a museum, the Asakura Museum of Sculpture was the home and studio of sculptor Fumio Asakura, who moved to the Yanaka area after graduating from Tokyo School of Fine Arts in 1907. He expanded the pwroperty over the years, completing a renovation in 1935 in order to open a sculp-ture school.

The current sprawling building was dedicated as a museum in 1967, three years after Asakura’s death. It mixes Western styles—like the reinforced concrete, lofty ceilings and skylights of his studio—with the more traditional Japanese wooden structure where he lived with his family, like an enclosed garden and pond in the open-air center of the building. The liv-ing area, preserved with original furniture, offers an intimate look into the daily life of the artist.

Asakura’s work, t...