In a landmark auction of 125 Asian masterpieces at Sotheby’s Hong Kong on Saturday, Japan’s Okada Museum of Art achieved a stunning $88 million (plus fees) in sales. This figure significantly exceeded the presale estimate of $50 million, thanks in large part to the record-breaking performances of ukiyo-e masterpieces by Kitagawa Utamaro and Katsushika Hokusai, including The Great Wave Off the Coast of Kanagawa. The auction earned a “white-glove” status, meaning every work was sold.
The auction’s primary purpose, however, was highly unusual: Japanese billionaire and museum founder Kazuo Okada mandated the sale to settle a $50 million legal bill stemming from a long-running business dispute with casino mogul Steve Wynn. Okada, who assembled the museum’s world-famous collection over three decades, reportedly aimed to settle the substantial debt owed to his former law firm through the auction’s proceeds.
courtesy of sotheby’s
A Record-Breaking Night for Hokusai’s Great Wave
The intense bidding established two new auction records for the iconic Japanese masters whose works anchored the night. The star lot was Utamaro’s early 19th-century painting, Fukagawa in Snow, which sold to a Japanese private collector for $7.1 million after a fierce battle.
Equally dramatic was the eight-minute bidding war for Hokusai’s instantly recognizable woodblock print, The Great Wave Off the Coast of Kanagawa (1830-32). The piece, part of his famous “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji” series, is arguably the most famous and most reproduced Japanese artwork in the world. Its celebrity led to the final price of $2.8 million, which was triple the amount of its high estimated value. Though various iterations of The Great Wave exist in major museums worldwide, this specific copy drew extraordinary competition.
The excitement surrounding Hokusai’s market value was underscored by a separate recent sale in Tokyo, where his original painting, Beauty in Snow, with Inscription by Shokusanjin (1813-19), fetched a record of approximately $4 million (¥621 million) — the highest price ever paid for one of Hokusai’s paintings. The stunning 19th-century depiction of a courtesan was purchased by home-furnishings retailer Nitori, who plans to exhibit it publicly at the Nitori Museum of Art in Otaru, Hokkaido.
Overall, Okada Museum of Art’s collection was highly coveted, with 19 of the 125 lots selling for more than $1.2 million. These included major Chinese artifacts, such as late Shang dynasty bronzes, Qing dynasty imperial porcelain and Korean ceramics, many of which commanded prices in the multi-millions. “What we have is basically 3,000 years of some of the greatest ceramics, craft and paintings across China, Japan and Korea,” said Nicholas Chow, chairman of Sotheby’s Asia and worldwide head of Asian Art.
The Dispute Behind the Sale
The decision to sell Okada Museum of Art’s prized assets came down to a legal struggle between museum founder Kazuo Okada, the former chairman of Universal Entertainment Corporation (known as Japan’s “Pachinko king”), and casino mogul Steve Wynn. The two co-founded Wynn Resorts in 2002 before a souring of relations led to Wynn removing Okada as vice-chairman and buying back his 20 percent stake at a steep discount.
Okada fought back legally and prevailed in 2018, securing a massive $2.6 billion out-of-court settlement from Wynn and Wynn Resorts. However, Okada then refused to pay the $50 million fee presented by his own legal team, Bartlit Beck. The law firm successfully pursued their claim in a binding court arbitration, which resulted in the artworks being sold under court order, with any extra proceeds returned to Okada Fine Arts.
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Updated On November 26, 2025
