The Hagi Uragami Museum was founded in 1996 by Hagi-born entrepreneur Uragami Toshiro (1926– ) as a place to share his extensive collection of ceramics and ukiyo-e art pieces with the public. Since its founding the museum collection has grown from other donations and acquisitions. The museum comprises the original museum building from 1996 and a new addition built in 2010.
The main building has six exhibition rooms: two on the first floor and four on the second. One of the first-floor rooms is used to display a monthly exhibition of about thirty pieces from the museum’s collection of over 5,500 ukiyo-e prints arranged within a single theme. The other room is used to showcase thematic selections of Korean, Chinese, and other Asian ceramics from the museum’s collection of around 600 pieces. Past the larger exhibition rooms are two smaller rooms. One is a “special appreciation room” where a single exceptional ukiyo-e image is displayed for a month at a time. The room’s walls are made of cherry, the same wood used for carving ukiyo-e printing blocks. Next door is a small tea room where a single artist’s work is displayed for a year. This floor also contains the gift shop, reference corner, lecture hall, and a small cafe. The four exhibition rooms on the second floor of the main building are used for special exhibitions.
The museum’s new addition, the Pottery Annex, was built to provide a space devoted to ceramic art from Hagi and the surrounding area. Inside the annex, visitors can watch videos on how Hagi ware is made and see special exhibitions in the other rooms.