Imperial masterpieces associated with Iwate Prefecture showcased in Ichinoseki

“The Imperial Family and Japanese Aesthetics: Art from Sannomaru Shozokan and Iwate,” a special exhibition introducing artistic treasures of the Imperial Household, is now running at the Ichinoseki City Museum. The exhibition features a total of 87 items associated with Iwate — a prefecture in the northern Tohoku Region where the museum is located — including masterworks from The Museum of the Imperial Collections, Sannomaru Shozokan in Tokyo.

The Imperial Family and Japanese Aesthetics:
Art from Sannomaru Shozokan and Iwate

Oct 1 (Sat) – Nov 27 (Sun), 2022

Ichinoseki City Museum
(Ichinoseki, Iwate Pref.)

The Sannomaru Shozokan opened in 1993 as a museum to store paintings and crafts bestowed from the Imperial Household and to put them on public display. The museum is now closed for major renovations and has been organizing exhibitions introducing the artistic treasures it holds in Tokyo and elsewhere in the meantime. The exhibitions are held with special cooperation from the Tsumugu Project, a joint effort of Japan’s Cultural Affairs Agency, Imperial Household Agency and national daily newspaper The Yomiuri Shimbun (headquartered in Tokyo) to help conserve the nation’s artistic treasures.

The exhibition in Ichinoseki also features masterworks of Taki Katei (1830-1901) — an appointed Artist to the Ministry of the Imperial Household in his time — and paintings by nihonga (Japanese-style painting) artist Sato Shien (1874-1943), who hailed from the city and was Katei’s student. Five celebrated Japanese swords handed down in the Imperial Household, Nanbu iron tea kettles, works of nihonga by Yokoyama Taikan (1868-1958) and Takeuchi Seiho (1864-1942), and oil paintings by Ueno Koichi who hailed from the prefecture are also on the list of works to go on display.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun and other sources)