Wartime-era paintings depicting animals have been stored in obscurity for decades at Nagoya City Art Museum and until recently their existence was unknown to the general population.

The three sets of paintings named "Moju Garo Hekiga" ("Fierce Animal Mural Painting") show such animals as polar bears and African elephants, and they were reportedly displayed at Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens in Chikusa Ward, Nagoya, shortly after World War II to entertain visitors who could not, at that time, see live animals.

But the zoo has no record of these artworks.