The or TNM is an art museum in Ueno Park in the Taitō ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is considered the oldest national museum and the largest art museum in Japan. The museum collects, preserves, and displays a comprehensive collection of artwork and cultural objects from Asia, with a focus on ancient and medieval Japanese art and Asian art along the Silk Road. There is also a large collection of Greco-Buddhist art. As of April 2023, the museum held approximately 120,000 Cultural Properties, including 89 National Treasures, 319 Horyuji Treasures, and 649 Important Cultural Properties. As of the same date, the Japanese government had designated 902 works of art and crafts as National Treasures and 10,820 works of art and crafts as Important Cultural Properties, so the museum holds about 10% of the works of art and crafts designated as National Treasures and 6% of those designated as Important Cultural Properties.

The museum also holds 2,651 cultural properties deposited by individuals and organisations, of which 54 are National Treasures and 262 are Important Cultural Properties. Of these, 3,000 cultural properties are on display at one time, with each changing for between four and eight weeks. It considers its origin to have been the or , a public exhibition of imperial artwork and scientific specimens held by the Ministry of Education's Museum Department from 10 March to 30 April 1872 during the 5th year of the Meiji Era. The items' authenticity had been ascertained by the recent Jinshin Survey, which catalogued and verified various imperial, noble, and temple holdings around the country. Directed by Shigenobu Okuma, Tsunetami Sano, and others, the 1872 exhibition expanded on an 1871 exhibit at the Tokyo Kaisei School (today the University of Tokyo) in order to prepare for an international exhibition at the 1873 Vienna World's Fair celebrating Franz JosephI's 25th year as emperor. The 1873 exhibition in Vienna, apart from the collection of regional objects, also included a full Japanese garden with shrine, a model of the former pagoda at Tokyo's imperial temple, the female golden shachi from Nagoya Castle, and a papier-maché copy of the Kamakura Buddha. It opened on 15 April and was open to the public for the next 3½ months, after which it opened on the days in each month ending with the numbers 1 or 6.

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File:Art Gallery of the First National Industrial Exhibition.png | An engraving of the Art Gallery for the first National Industrial Exhibition (1877)

File:Tokyo-Ueno-Park-National-Industrial-Exhibition-Museum-Hiroshige-III-1877.png| Hiroshige III's ukiyo-e triptych showing its interior (1877)

File:Second National Industrial Exhibition 1881.png | Guide map to the 1881 Second National Industrial Exhibition

File:Hiroshige III - Daini hakurankai bijitsukan narabini funsuiki.jpg | Hiroshige III's ukiyo-e triptych of the second NIE (1881), showing the original Honkan

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Ueno museum

thumb|right|200px|The front of the original Honkan after the [[Great Kanto Earthquake (1923)]]

thumb|right|200px|[[Jin Watanabe (architect)|Jin Watanabe's 1937 plans for the second Honkan, front and side elevations]]

thumb|right|200px|East elevation

Ueno Park was founded in 1873 on land that had been held by the metropolitan government since the destruction of most of the Kaneiji Temple during the Boshin War that established the Meiji Restoration, partially following the example set by the American government at Yellowstone the preceding year. Hisanari Machida, the museum's first director, had advocated the use of the spacious park for a wide-ranging museum as early as 1873 but parts of it were used for the military and education ministries until 1875, when the Home Ministry acquired complete control.

A ceremony attended by Emperor Meiji opened the museum and zoo on 20 March 1882; the library was reopened on September 30.

The museum saw attendance begin to fall after 1925; and the Independent Administrative Institution National Institutes for Cultural Heritage in 2007 (merging the IAINM's administration with the national institutes for cultural preservation in Tokyo and Nara).

From October 18, 2022 to December 11, the Tokyo National Museum celebrated its 150 year anniversary by displaying all of its 89 national treasures in a single exhibition for the first time.

Facilities

thumb|right|200px|The entrance to the Honkan (May 2019)

thumb|right|200px|The Honkan entryway, seen from the second floor landing (2013)

thumb|right|200px|The TNM garden seen from the Honkan terrace (March 2018)

thumb|right|200px|The rear of the Honkan seen from the garden (March 2018)

The houses the museum's main display of Japanese art from prehistory to the late 19th century. It has two floors and a basement with a total floorspace of . It is designed to be fire- and earthquake-resistant. at a cost of 7 million yen. It opened on 10 November 1938 with a ceremony attended by Emperor Hirohito.

The Heiseikan was first opened in 1999. the Japanese finds have been superseded by newer discoveries in China with the objects found in Xianren Cave, Jiangxi, in 2012 the oldest known as of 2019.

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Image:JapanesePolishedStoneAxes.JPG|The earliest polished stone tools in the world. Pre-Jōmon (Japanese Paleolithic) period, 30,000 BCE.

Image:JomonPottery.JPG|Incipient Jōmon pottery (radiocarbon dated to 12500 ±350 BP)

The Toyokan was designed by Yoshirō Taniguchi, opened in 1968, refurbished in the early 2010s, and reopened in January 2013. and opened in 1999. was opened in 1909. Its name reflects its construction in honor of the wedding of Crown Prince Yoshihito and Sadako Kujo (later Emperor Taisho and Empress Teimei) on 10 May 1900.

Designed by Okada Shinichirō, the hall was built in 1928 as part of Kuroda's bequest to use part of his fortune "to fund projects to promote art". but it is presently open whenever the main museum is. The floor open to the public includes two reading rooms, an exhibition area, and counters for requesting items held in the archives on the other floors. The Tokyo National Museum's annual budget is ¥2 billion, which is one-seventeenth that of the Louvre, one-fifth that of the British Museum, and one-third that of the National Museum of Korea.