Concerts to Mark Centenary of Tokyo Music Library; Now Shuttered, Library Contained Valuable Western Collection

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:16 JST, September 29, 2025

A concert commemorating the 100th anniversary of the founding of a historic music library will be held at the Sogakudo concert hall in Ueno Park, Tokyo, on Thursday and Friday.

The concert program is closely linked to the now-shuttered Nanki Ongaku Toshokan library, which contained a precious collection of Western music. Music will be played on the oldest functioning pipe organ in Japan.

The Nanki Ongaku Toshokan library had its beginnings in the collection of music gathered overseas in the early 20th century by Yorisada Tokugawa, the 16th head of the Kishu Tokugawa family. Called “the lord of music,” Tokugawa built Nanki Gakudo, Japan’s first concert hall, in Azabu, Tokyo, in 1918, after he returned from studying in Britain.

A pipe organ imported from Britain was set up in the hall in 1920.

Nanki Gakudo hall was demolished after it was damaged in the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. The collection of music that had been kept there was shown to the public from 1925 at the Nanki Ongaku Toshokan library, but it closed in 1932.

The pipe organ was moved to Sogakudo, which belonged to the former Tokyo Music School (now the Tokyo University of the Arts) at the time.

The collection of music, which has subsequently been called the Nanki Ongaku Bunko (Nanki Music Library), has been in the possession of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra since 1977.

It is currently entrusted to Wakayama Prefecture, the home of the Kishu Tokugawa family. About 20,000 items are being kept at the Wakayama Prefectural Library in Wakayama, and some are on exhibit.

The upcoming concerts are organized by the prefectural library’s music council and Nanki Classic Crusaders, a group promoting the Nanki Music Library. The program will start with a pipe organ performance in memory of Nanki Gakudo hall and then re-create part of a concert given there 100 years ago.

Works to be played at the concerts include pieces by Purcell and Mendelssohn, as well as chamber music by Saint-Saens. The library possesses the sheet music used at the premiere of the Saint-Saens work.

The Thursday concert starts at 6:30 p.m., and the Friday performance at 1:30 p.m. Performers include mezzo-soprano Mika Kaneko, violinist Kazuki Sawa, pianist Naoko Miyashita and organist Eriko Yamaji.