Japan’s Okada Museum of Art is selling 125 works from its collection at Sotheby’s Hong Kong on November 22 to help its founder, Kazuo Okada, pay a $50 million legal bill. The bill stems from a long-running feud with casino magnate Steve Wynn, which began when the two co-founded Wynn Resorts in 2002 and later accused each other of improper payments. The collection includes Katsushika Hokusai’s iconic *The Great Wave Off the Coast of Kanagawa* (1830–32), a rare Qianlong “Eight Treasures” vase, and 16th-century screens by Kano Motonobu. Okada, an 83-year-old billionaire, lost a binding arbitration over the legal fees and must now sell the art.
The sale matters because it represents one of the most significant collections of East Asian art to come to auction in recent memory, assembled over a century by the renowned dealership Kochukyo Co., Ltd. The forced sale highlights how personal legal disputes can impact major museum collections, raising questions about the stewardship of cultural heritage. It also underscores the intersection of high-stakes business litigation and the art market, with Sotheby’s positioning the auction as an extraordinary opportunity for collectors of East Asian masterworks.