5 reasons to visit Tokyo’s Tobi Art Fair 2025 this weekend

The Tokyo Art Dealers’ Association is Japan’s most distinguished network of galleries and specialists. Founded more than 100 years ago, the association counts around 500 art dealers from across the nation among its members, each rigorously vetted for expertise, authenticity and integrity. Membership is granted only after strict peer review, ensuring that those who display at Tobi Art Fair represent the highest standards of professionalism.

This institutional backbone lends the fair a sense of reliability that few international art events can match. You can explore confidently, knowing that every object on show – whether a tea bowl, folding screen or painting – has been carefully selected by experts whose craft is rooted in generations of knowledge.

For the Tobi Art Fair’s 2025 edition, the Tokyo Art Club’s four floors will be transformed into a dazzling showcase of Japanese art. With 120 booths, the largest number in the fair’s history, the event promises both breadth and depth, bringing together a remarkable variety of works at a single venue.

Each gallery will be designing its booth as a curated space, facilitating intimate encounters between viewer and artwork. You can meet directly with gallery owners and dealers to hear the stories behind each piece, whether it’s a 17th-century hanging scroll or a contemporary ceramic work inspired by ancient glazes. From serene traditional displays to striking modern installations, the booths reflect a passion for connecting Japan’s past with its artistic present.

The defining feature of Tobi Art Fair is its remarkable range. The artworks available at the fair span over a millennium of artistic creation, presenting an unbroken narrative from Japan’s early craft traditions to its most innovative contemporary expressions.

You’ll find antiques and tea ceremony wares, such as Edo-period (1603–1868) lacquerware, Buddhist sculptures and ancient poetry scrolls, displayed alongside modern and contemporary art, including exquisite overglazed porcelain by Hazan Itaya, paintings by Shiko Munakata and ceramics by Rosanjin Kitaoji.

The work of contemporary artists such as Akira Kugimachi and Miyuki Yokomizo continue this lineage, translating timeless aesthetics into today’s language of form and colour. This coexistence of old and new, earth and spirit, and tradition and innovation makes Tobi a living dialogue between generations.

Tobi is exceptional in its dedication to antique and classical Japanese art. Nowhere else outside of a museum can you encounter so many pieces of historical significance in one place. Among the highlights are tea ceremony utensils once treasured by feudal lords, swords and armour from the samurai era, Chinese and Korean ceramics passed down through centuries, and calligraphy and paintings by masters such as Mori Sosen, Ryokan and Hanabusa Itcho.

Preserved with devotion through generations, these works carry the weight of history. Each object tells a story of refinement, spirituality and the continuity of Japanese artistry.

Beyond the exhibition booths, Tobi Art Fair offers a rich programme of events and interactive experiences designed to deepen appreciation and understanding. Guided gallery tours led by the Association’s specialists provide insight into the techniques and symbolism of Japanese art, while the tea ceremony pavilion, nestled within the second-floor garden, invites you to experience the delicate choreography of hospitality through art.

These moments transform the fair from a viewing event into a multi-sensory encounter, where art is seen, felt, heard and shared. Whether savouring the aroma of freshly whisked matcha or hearing the resonance of a brushstroke described by a dealer, you’re reminded that Japanese art is, at its essence, a lived experience.

The Tobi Art Fair takes place October 17–19 2025 at the Tokyo Art Club (6-19-15 Shinbashi, Minato; Onarimon, Daimon, Shinbashi stations). Tickets cost ¥2,000 on the door. See the website for more details.