Japan’s artistic treasures to be showcased in Osaka to celebrate opening of Expo 2025

By law, a number of paintings, sculptures, calligraphy, historical documents, archaeological artifacts, buildings and other tangible cultural properties deemed historically, artistically or academically important to Japan are designated by the central government every year as “important cultural properties.” Designated important cultural properties deemed as having universal value are later designated as “national treasures.”

Special Exhibition Commemorating Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan, and the Reopening of the Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts —
National Treasures of Japan

Apr 26 (Sat) – Jun 15 (Sun), 2025

Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts
(Tennoji, Osaka)

*See outline below for details

“National Treasures of Japan,” a special exhibition scheduled to open at the Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts soon after the inauguration of Expo 2025 (April 13-Oct. 13) in the same city, will bring together a good number of designated national treasures from museums, temples and other institutions in and outside Osaka to comprehensively present the history of Japanese aesthetics to domestic and international visitors alike.

It will be a rare treat to be able to view iconic works such as the “Writing Box with a Pontoon Bridge” by the protean Edo-period artist Hon’ami Koetsu (1558–1637), the neolithic Jomon-period “Deep Vessel with Flame-Style Pottery” (excavated in Niigata Prefecture) and the “Irises” folding screens by Rinpa school artist Ogata Korin (1658-1716) in a single exhibition. About 130 designated national treasures are listed for the special exhibition.

The first chapter of the exhibition — which comprises six sections — will give visitors an overview of Japanese art history by showcasing the selected national treasures not necessarily chronologically, but thematically. For instance, the first section will feature the great masters of Japanese art and put on display exquisite works such as the well admired “Chinese Lions” folding screens by Kano school painters Kano Eitoku (1543-90) and Kano Tsunenobu (1636–1713), and “Fowls” from the scroll painting series “Colorful Realm of Living Beings” by Edo-period eccentric Ito Jakuchu (1716-1800), both of which are borrowed from The Museum of the Imperial Collections, Sannomaru Shozokan in Tokyo.

Among other displays in the first chapter are Shintoist and Buddhist works of art (sutras, paintings and statues) such as the “The Bodhisattva Fugen (Skt. Samantabhadra) Mounted on an Elephant” from the Okura Museum of Art in Tokyo, works of calligraphy such as that of the “Collection of Japanese Poems Ancient and Modern (First Calligraphic Style of the Mount Koya Fragments)” from the Heian period, and samurai related relics (Japanese swords and armor) such as the “Armor (Oyoroi) with Red Leather Lacing” also from the Heian period.

National Treasures of Osaka to be spotlighted

The second chapter of the exhibition is dedicated to the national treasures of Osaka, where the exposition is going to be held. Among the must-sees in this chapter are the Muromachi-period “The Sun and Moon in Landscapes of the Four Seasons” folding screens (top photo) of Kongo-ji temple in Kawachinagano, Osaka Pref., and the Heian-period “The Buddha Yakushi (Skt. Bhaisajyaguru)” of Shishikutsu-ji temple in Katano, Osaka Pref.

TSUMUGU’s repair grant program introduced

The exhibition is held in conjunction with the Tsumugu Project, a joint undertaking by Japan’s Cultural Affairs agency, Imperial Household Agency and national daily newspaper The Yomiuri Shimbun (Tokyo) to help conserve the nation’s artistic treasures. Providing financial support to help repair damaged cultural properties by using proceeds from exhibitions such as this one is one of the project’s key functions. Several cultural properties — including the “Bound Fan Papers with the Lotus Sutra” of Shitenno-ji temple in Osaka city — which were actually repaired under the project will also be highlighted in the exhibition.

The exhibition, which opens on April 26, 2025, and runs through June 15, 2025, is also held in celebration of the reopening of the museum on March 1 this year after a two-year complete renovation of its facilities.