The museum opened in Toranomon, Tokyo in 1917 to house the collection of pre-modern Japanese and East-Asian Art amassed since the Meiji Restoration by industrialist Ōkura Kihachirō.
Shiba was a ward of Tokyo City from 1878 to 1947, consisting of a number of districts including Hamamatsucho, Mita, Shiba, Shinbashi, Shirokane, Takanawa and Toranomon.
The Toranomon Incident was cited later by the government as one of the justifications for the Peace Preservation Law of 1925.