Exhibition “RYUKYU” will move to Kyushu National Museum in Fukuoka in July

It was announced on May 18, 2022, that the special exhibition “RYUKYU” now running at the Tokyo National Museum (Ueno Park, Taito Ward) will move to the Kyushu National Museum (Dazaifu, Fukuoka Pref.) in July 2022. The exhibition in Dazaifu will open on July 16 and last until Sept. 4.

The exhibition held to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Okinawa’s reversion to Japan features the art and culture of Okinawa (formerly Ryukyu Kingdom). To go on display at the Kyushu National Museum are about 240 assets including the “Red bingata robe depicting dragons, orbs, and auspicious clouds,” a designated national treasure borrowed from the Naha City Museum of History in Okinawa Prefecture.

Reproductions of cultural assets which were lost in war, such as the statues of the “Nio (gate guardians) of Enkakuji Temple,” will also be on display.

The RYUKYU 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 — and co-organized by the Okinawa Prefectural Museum and Art Museum in Naha.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun and other sources)