Kyoto National Museum to present Japan as ‘artistic melting pot’ during Expo 2025

Expo 2025, to be held in Osaka in the Kansai region of Japan, aims to drive co-creation by the international community to help shape a sustainable society, where individuals can maximize their potential. Given this context, the Kyoto National Museum (also in Kansai) is holding an art exhibition in 2025 with a focus on intercultural exchanges in the ancient past and in modern times, that instigated the creation of Japan’s artistic treasures. The exhibition also features works of Japanese art that were well accepted abroad, such as “The Great Wave” from Katsushika Hokusai ukiyo-e series “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji.”

JAPAN
An Artistic Melting Pot

Apr 19 (Sat) – Jun 15 (Sun), 2025

Kyoto National Museum
(Kyoto city)

*See outline below for details

Entitled “Japan: An Artistic Melting Pot,” the exhibition will open on Apr. 19, 2025, about a week into the Expo, to showcase a number of cultural properties that are telling of the history of Japan’s intercultural and artistic exchange.

One of the highlights of the exhibition is the regathering of some of the items listed in “Histoire de l’Art du Japon,” a book on Japanese art history compiled in French by the Japanese government and published in 1900 for the Fifth Paris International Exposition to better expose Japanese art to the Western world. One such item to go on display is a dotaku, or bronze bell, with protruding lines (1st–3rd century) dug out from an excavation site in the Koshinohara district of Yasu city, Shiga Pref. According to the museum, the bell was listed in the history book as an example of metalwork from the early times in the history of Japanese art.

Among the must-sees in the exhibition are the “Wind God and Thunder God” folding screens (17th century; top photo) — a designated national treasure — by Edo-period painter Tawaraya Sotatsu of the Rinpa school, and the wooden statue “Standing Priest Baozhi (Hoshi)” (11th century) — a designated important cultural property — of Saio-ji temple in Kyoto, which depicts the emergence of the Eleven Headed Avalokitesvara bodhisattva the priest embodied.

The exhibition runs through June 15, 2025.