Ōkura Kihachirō

Baron Ōkura Kihachirō (大倉 喜八郎, 23 October 1837 – 5 April 1928) was a Japanese businessman, investor, and philanthropist.

Ōkura was born in Echigo Province, and moved to Edo and worked for three years before starting his own grocery store in 1857.

In fear of valuable artworks flowing out to other countries, he built Japan’s first private museum, the Ōkura Shukokan, in 1917 by donating many cultural assets he had collected, the land, and the funds.

The 5-story building stood on a property of about 10,000 square meters (2.5 acres), but it was damaged in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake.

The museum houses 2,000 pieces of Oriental paintings and sculptures, including such national treasures as the wooden statue of Samantabhadra and 35,000 volumes of Chinese literature.