Artist Room King Sumo at Park Hotel Tokyo

Having the concept “Infinite time and space amid cognizant Japanese beauty”, Park Hotel Tokyo is proceeding to incorporate art into spaces throughout the hotel. Through the “Artist in Hotel” project, all guestrooms on the 31st floor are painted by Japanese artists directly on to the walls and ceiling.

The “Artist in Hotel” project, which is a hotel-version of an “Artist in Residence”, took place from December 2012 to July 2017 at Park Hotel Tokyo. In the project, artists stayed at the hotel to absorb the atmosphere while partaking of its facilities and services, to fashion a standard guest room into a work of art drawing inspiration from their guest experience. Artists had painted directly on the walls and ceiling of the guest rooms as if they were a canvas, and affixed original paintings and objects, under the theme “Japanese aesthetics”.

The first room, Artist Room King Sumo, was created by artist Hiroyuki Kimura. Kimura’s concept was “a room where guests can feel the glow of sumo wrestlers”.

Feeling nervous to start working as the very first artist of the project, Kimura painted sumo wrestlers directly on the walls using sumi ink. Kimura had also placed name plates of sumo wrestlers, home shrine by the window, and many stickers of sumo wrestler in room and even in bathroom. All these works became the basis of later added Artist Rooms.

“Sumo is a traditional Japanese art form, much more than just a sport. Moves and manners in sumo embody various meanings, such as appreciation of nature and a wish for prosperity of people”, said Kimura, with the hope that guests will take this opportunity to experience the sumo room which is a crystallization of Japanese culture.

“Artist in Hotel” project at Park Hotel Tokyo was awarded Excellence in Field of Domestic and Inbound Travel Award at the Japan Tourism Awards in 2017, for the project being pioneering, and increasing the charms of Japan.

The completion of the “Artist in Hotel” project is just the beginning of our goal to welcome our guests with hospitality in the form of “arrangement”, one of Japan’s aesthetic values, expressed through the medium of art.