Editor’s Note
This article details the forced sale of artworks from the Okada Museum to cover a substantial legal debt, highlighting the intersection of high-stakes corporate disputes and cultural heritage.
The Okada Museum, founded by Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada and housing a significant treasure of Asian art he collected, will sell masterpieces to settle a $50 million legal bill resulting from his dispute with casino magnate Steve Wynn.
When the dispute with Wynn was settled out of court in 2018, Okada refused to pay the fees presented by his law firm, Bartlit Beck. However, the firm successfully enforced its claim through binding arbitration and in the courts. Next month, works held by the museum will be auctioned by Sotheby’s in Hong Kong to cover the debt.
Sotheby’s sale, scheduled for November 22, includes 125 lots and features Asian art masterpieces such as late Shang dynasty ritual bronzes, Qing imperial porcelain, Japanese screens, and Korean ceramics, some of which are expected to receive bids exceeding several million dollars.
Okada’s sale will include a rare Qianlong ‘Eight Treasures’ vase; a large Northern Song Ru ‘guanyao’ bowl; a pair of six-panel screens from the 16th century by Kano Motonobu of the Muromachi period; and Katsushika Hokusai’s The Great Wave off the Coast of Kanagawa, which has been called “the world’s most famous Japanese print.”
The Great Wave, depicting Mount Fuji in the distance under the crest of a giant wave, is part of Hokusai’s famous series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, which helped establish the popularity of landscape prints. The artist began the Fuji series in 1830 at age 70 and produced several versions.
Online information about Sotheby’s auction indicates the works have been consigned “by an agent of the court-appointed receivers over the shares of Okada Fine Art Limited” based on court orders issued in Hong Kong. The Okada Museum declined to comment on the impact the sale might have on its collection. It noted it could not provide contact information for its owner, who could not be located for comment.
Located in the dense forest surrounding Hakone, a mountain hot spring resort, the Okada Museum opened in 2013 as a showcase for a collection of several hundred works. Sotheby’s stated the museum’s collection was assembled over three decades by Kochukyo Co., the art gallery founded by Hirota Matsushige (later known as Fukosai), which has advised numerous museums and private collectors since 1924.
Kazuo Okada is the former president of Universal Entertainment Corporation, which manufactures and sells entertainment devices, particularly pachinko machines—a combination of pinball tables and slot machines used in gambling parlors in Japan. He came to be known in Japan as the “Pachinko King.”
Years ago, he and Wynn became friends and formed Wynn Resorts in 2002, after Wynn sold Mirage Resorts to MGM Grand.
But a few years later, the relationship between the two deteriorated, with each ultimately accusing the other of questionable payments to public officials in Asia. In 2012, Wynn Resorts removed Okada as vice chairman and repurchased Universal’s 20 percent stake in the company at a discount.
Tokyo-based Universal went to court to dispute the repurchase amount. Finally, Okada’s company prevailed in 2018 in a settlement where Wynn and Wynn Resorts agreed to pay $2.6 billion to resolve the litigation with Universal and its U.S. subsidiary, Aruze USA Inc.
However, according to court records, Okada refused to pay the $50 million to the law firm that represented him in the legal battle against Wynn, leading to arbitration. Subsequently, the Japanese businessman argued in court that the arbitration panel’s decision had been unfair, partly because a health issue prevented him from participating fully.
