Kyushu National Museum

Subtitled “Ocean Ways, Asian Paths,” our permanent exhibition takes you back in time to experience Japan’s history of cultural exchange with Asia and Europe.

For centuries, the city of Dazaifu, sometimes referred to as the ancient capital of western Japan, has served as a gateway connecting Japan and Asia, thanks to its proximity to the Korean Peninsula. Drawing on this local history, our permanent exhibition examines how Japanese culture formed in the context of Asian history.

The Cultural Exchange Exhibition Hall is divided into five main themes. Your trip through time begins 35,000 years ago, in the Paleolithic period. It stretches all the way through to the early modernity of the 19th-century late Edo period. With a vast main room, 11 themed sub-rooms, interactive displays, and weekly exhibit rotations to keep things fresh, there are plenty of ways to enjoy our collection.

Five Main Themes

Theme 1 – Jōmon People: Advancing Towards the Sea

(35,000 years ago – 4th century BCE)

In the Paleolithic Age (from about 35,000 to 12,000 years ago), the Japanese archipelago was virtually connected to continental Asia. Its climate was cold, and its people pursued a nomadic lifestyle, hunting large animals. By the Jōmon period (from about 12,000 years ago to the 4th century BCE), the climate warmed up and sea levels rose, resulting in the present archipelago. People started settling in fixed locations, gathering nuts, hunting small animals, and catching fish and shellfish. To cook these foods, they created pottery. They also used dugout canoes to connect, interact, and take part in exchanges across the islands.

Theme 2 – From Crop to Country

(4th century BCE – 7th century CE)

During the Yayoi period (from the 4th century BCE to the mid-3rd century CE), people from continental Asia brought rice cultivation as well as bronze and iron metalwork techniques to Kyushu. This led locals to work together on agriculture. Leaders emerged to oversee tasks, eventually becoming kings. By the middle of the 3rd century, great kings ruled over most of the archipelago, and burial mounds known as kofun symbolized their authority. Many people came from the Korean Peninsula, bringing skills like horse-riding and sue ware pottery-making with them. A unique take on ancient tomb culture developed in Kyushu, where people made stone figurines and decorative murals to pray for the repose of deceased local kings.

Theme 3 – The Age of the Envoys

(7th – 12th centuries)

Kentōshi envoys were sent from Japan to Chang’an, the Tang dynasty (618–907) capital of China. These envoys traveled via Dazaifu, which flourished as a hub for diplomacy and trade with other Asian countries. Their mission was to learn about Buddhism and China’s advanced institutions to establish the framework for Japan’s ritsuryō state system. They returned with many new ideas and objects, which had a significant influence on Japanese culture. As these influences continued to be accepted in the Heian period (794–1185), unique Japanese cultural practices also developed. One of these was a new writing script called kana. Meanwhile, the popularity of Esoteric and Pure Land Buddhism in the Heian period led to commissions of various Buddhist statues, paintings, and sutras.

Theme 4 – Merchants of the Asian Seas

(12th – 16th centuries)

The samurai class rose to power in the Kamakura period (from the end of the 12th century to 1333). This marked the start of a longer “middle age” that lasted through the Muromachi period (1336–1573). During this feudal era, Asian merchants often sailed the seas to trade with each other. Commerce developed in many Japanese cities, such as Kyoto and Hakata. Zen monks introduced Chinese cultural practices like ink-wash painting and drinking tea, which became symbols of wealth and power among the constantly fighting samurai. These customs eventually developed into the tea ceremony, a symbol of traditional Japan.

Theme 5 – Smaller World, Closer West

(16th – 19th centuries)

Europe entered the Age of Discovery as the Muromachi period gave way to the Azuchi-Momoyama period (from the 16th to early 17th centuries). European traders brought guns and Christianity to Japan, returning home with Japanese silver and craftworks. During the national isolation of the Edo period (1603–1868), Japan retained a certain degree of connection to the outside world through overseas trade from outposts in Nagasaki and Tsushima in Kyushu, Ryukyu (Okinawa), and Ezo (Hokkaido). While Japanese ceramics and lacquerware captivated buyers abroad, Japan was introduced to European knowledge and technology, paving the way for the modern period to come.

11 Adjoining Rooms

Room A – Donors’ Gallery

This room exhibits valuable cultural assets that were generously donated to our museum. These include Important Cultural Properties such as Katsushika Hokusai’s Daily Sketches for Exorcism and Longevity; a pair of bottles with pine, bamboo, and plum blossoms in overglaze enamels; a lidded iron pot embossed with interlocking circles; and other treasures like swords.

Room B – Asian Ethno-Forms: The Kaneko Kazushige Memorial Gallery

Named to honor Kaneko Kazushige’s invaluable donation of over 1,000 objects relating to Asian ethnography, this gallery has been permanently dedicated to a selection of these objects that paint a colorful picture of Asian cultures.