Artistic treasures from Imperial collection on view at University Art Museum in Tokyo

This will likely be the most spectacular Japanese art exhibition in Tokyo this summer. The Tokyo University of the Arts has started a special exhibition featuring Ito Jakuchu’s “Doshoku Sai-e (Colorful Realm of Living Beings),” Kano Eitoku’s “Chinese Lions” and other masterpieces from The Museum of the Imperial Collections, Sannomaru Shozokan (Tokyo; temporarily closed for renovation).

Themes in Japanese Art from the Imperial Collection

Aug 6 (Sat) – Sep 25 (Sun), 2022

The University Art Museum,
Tokyo University of the Arts
(Ueno Park, Tokyo)

*See outline below for more info

The special exhibition, entitled “Themes in Japanese Art from the Imperial Collection,” has curtained up at The University Art Museum (Ueno Park, Taito Ward) — a Tokyo University of the Arts affiliate — on Aug. 6, 2022. It showcases exquisite Japanese paintings, sculptures, calligraphy, furnishings and craft, both classic and modern, from Sannomaru Shozokan’s Imperial collection and the university’s own collection (82 items in total) to offer a broad introduction of Japanese art.

What makes the exhibition very special is that it brings together all five newly designated national treasures from the Sannomaru Shozokan in a single event for the first time.* This is quite a treat for museumgoers in Tokyo, or from anywhere.

*5 newly designated national treasures from Sannomaru Shozokan:

・On display Aug 6-28
     – Kano Eitoku, Kano Tsunenobu “Chinese Lions” folding screens (right screen: Momoyama period, 16th century; left screen: Edo period, 17th century)

・ On display Aug 30-Sep 25
    – Ito Jakuchu “Doshoku Sai-e (Colorful Realm of Living Beings)” (Edo period, c. 1757-66) [10 from a set of 30 hanging scrolls]

・On display Sep 6-25
     – Ono no Michikaze “Byobu-dodai (Draft for Screen Poem)” handscroll (Heian period, dated 928)

・On display throughout
     – Takashina Takakane “Kasuga Gongen Genki-e (Legends of Kasuga Shrine)” (Kamakura period, c. 1309)

     – “Illustrated Scrolls of the Mongol Invasions” (Kamakura period, 13th century)

The exhibition is held in association with the Tsumugu Project, a joint effort of Japan’s Cultural Affairs Agency, Imperial Household Agency and The Yomiuri Shimbun (a national daily newspaper based in Tokyo) to help preserve the nation’s artistic treasures.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun and other sources)