Association for Corporate Support of the Arts. - Kigyo Mécénat Kyogikai

In 2008 the Vanfu Museum was opened on the first floor of the Vanfu Hachinohe Center located in the Hachinohe Kita Inter Industrial Park, which is a roughly 20 minute drive from Hachinohe Station in Aomori. Vanfu Inc., a Tokyo-based printing company, has had a base in Hachinohe for 15 years. Its museum primarily consists of full-size replica paintings, and was established out of a desire to contribute to the local community.
Vanfu creates replicas primarily of Japanese paintings from the Edo period using the digital light drawing technology that the company developed. The idea is to stand the notion that “they’re only replicas” on its head and to offer exhibits that gather together national treasures, important cultural assets in the form of hanging scrolls and folding screens, as well as picture scrolls and picture albums all in one place. It strives to create appealing displays that can only be achieved with replicas, such as by exhibiting large numbers of works by Tawaraya Sotatsu, Ito Jakuchu, Watanabe Kazan, Hishikawa Moronobu, and others, as well as by displaying haiku pictures in which pictures and haikus are inscribed and paintings associated with seasonal words.
At each exhibition, an expert general supervisor will join in and an exhibition catalogswith detailed explanations appended to the exhibits is published. In this manner exhibitions that could not be realized with the actual artworks can be held changing the exhibit content once or twice a year for extended periods of time, which visitors can view for free. The museum is visited by devoted fans of Japanese art from not only the local region but also from far away.
People from the Hachinohe’s cultural community take part in running the museum, a museum members club has been set up, and events such as tea parties have also been hosted. This initiative that makes the most of the company’s business is producing a gentle breath of fresh air in the local community.