Past Feature Exhibitions and Special Displays (2019 onward)


きゅーはく新春ツアー 龍をさがせ!
Kyuhaku New Year Tour

Catch the Dragon!

1 January (Mon) – 4 February (Sun) 2024
徳川美術館所蔵 国宝 初音の調度
New Year Special Display

Hatsune Maki-e Lacquer Trousseau
National Treasure from the Tokugawa Art Museum

1 January (Mon) – 28 January (Sun) 2024
うるわしき祈りの美- 高麗・朝鮮時代の仏教美術 -
Feature Exhibition

The Beauty of Prayer
Buddhist Art from the Goryeo and Joseon Dynasties –

5 September (Tues) – 15 October (Sun) 2023
~Touch the History~さわって体験 本物のひみつ
Cultural Exchange Hall Exhibition

Get in Touch with History
Secrets of the Hands-on Experience

8 August – 1 October 2023

“What is it like inside? What sounds does it make?” Have you ever wondered about these when looking at objects on display in a museum? If so, we invite you to experience the secrets of works that cannot be discovered by looking at them through a glass window.
Our hands-on experience, Get in Touch with History, offers visitors of any age and stage of development the opportunity to feel the history of Japan with all five senses.  

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秋田蘭画ことはじめ

Feature Exhibition

Commemorating 250 Years of Artistic Excellence

New Perspectives
A Glimpse into the World of Akita-ranga Paintings

29 April – 11 June 2023

Akita-ranga paintings have their beginnings some 250 years ago in 1773, when Satake Shozan, daimyo of Akita domain, and his retainer Odano Naotake met the naturalist Hiraga Gennai. This encounter led to Naotake’s subsequent referral in the following year to illustrate Sugita Genpaku’s Kaitai shinsho (lit. “A New Text on Anatomy”), the first full translation of a Western medical text in Japan. This exhibition presents masterpieces from the Akita Senshu Museum of Art, which is renowned for its superb collection of Akita-ranga works.

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種子島
Feature Exhibition

Tanegashima
A History Born from the Wind and Waves

13 December 2022 – 12 February 2023


Located off the shores of southern Kyushu is Tanegashima, an island known by to the Japanese as the place where guns first came ashore, and where rockets are launched. By virtue of its proximity, Tanegashima was more closely related in culture and historical development to Kyushu than the Amami and Ryukyu islands immediately to its south; nonetheless, the island’s people engaged in active exchange with those southern islands. In this exhibition, we explore the unique history of this island through artifacts excavated there, as well as cultural heritage objects that have been passed down through the ages.

初音の調度
Cultural Exchange Exhibition Hall New Year Special Display

Hatsune Maki-e Lacquer Trousseau
National Treasure from the Tokugawa Art Museum

1 January (Sun) – 29 January 2023 (Sun)


The New Year: a time for new things. New clothes, new resolutions, and perhaps even a new chapter in life. All these come together in our annual New Year Special Display of the Hatsune Maki-e Lacquer Trousseau, a National Treasure on loan from the Tokugawa Art Museum. This spectacular trousseau is an example of a set of furnishings that would have been created specially for a princess in the Edo period on the occasion of her marriage. Decorated with motifs from the “Hatsune” (The First Warbler) chapter of the Heian-period narrative The Tale of Genji, this particular trousseau followed Princess Chiyohime to her new home. In this twelfth edition of our annual exhibition, we present three items from the Hatsune Trousseau: a table, a box for calligraphy paper, and a large letter box depicting scenes from the “Kochō” chapter of The Tale of Genji. Supplementing these are trousseau items from the Nanbu clan, who governed the Morioka Domain during the Edo period.

いつもそばにいた 人と動物のアジア
Cultural Exchange Exhibition Hall

Walking Together
People and Animals of Asia

25 October – 11 December 2022


Mankind has enjoyed a long history of coexistence with animals—objects inspired by and featuring our animal friends have accompanied us from early history to modern day. Join us as we explore Kyuhaku’s collection of animal-related objects from Japan and Asia.

御所の器―公家山科家伝来の古伊万里
Cultural Exchange Exhibition Hall—Feature Exhibition

Vessels from the Imperial Court
Imari Porcelain from the Yamashina Family Collection

27 September – 20 November 2022


From the Edo period onward, the Japanese imperial family began using blue-and-white porcelain produced in Arita exclusively as their tableware. These exquisite bowls and plates, decorated with the imperial chrysanthemum seal, were replaced monthly. Old crockery would be gifted to noble families, imperial priests and priestesses, and ladies-in-waiting of the court. It was through these means that the noble Yamashina family amassed a significant collection of imperial Arita ware (often called Imari ware, after the port from which they were exported to Europe). This exhibition invites viewers to view this stunning collection of once-imperial, once-noble ceramic tableware in its entirety.

かわいい展
Cultural Exchange Exhibition Hall—Feature Exhibition

It’s a “Smol” World
Archaeology at Its Cutest

19 April – 24 July 2022


Have you ever walked through the archaeology section of a history museum and thought, “Man, who cares about all these dusty jars from old graves?” and shuffled over to more interesting exhibits? Well, saddle up your haniwa horses and make your way through the cutest exhibition this museum has ever seen! This exhibition showcases a few of the most adorable artifacts in our museum’s collection, selected by members of the Kyuhaku Women’s Archaeology Club, and hopes to introduce a new way for our visitors to approach archaeology.

初音の調度
Cultural Exchange Exhibition Hall New Year Special Display

Hatsune Maki-e Lacquer Trousseau
National Treasure from the Tokugawa Art Museum

1 January 2022 (Fri) – 30 January 2022 (Sun)


The New Year: a time for new things. New clothes, new resolutions, and perhaps even a new chapter in life. All these come together in our tenth annual New Year Special Display of the Hatsune Maki-e Lacquer Trousseau, a National Treasure on loan from the Tokugawa Art Museum. This spectacular trousseau is an example of a set of furnishings that would have been created specially for a princess in the Edo period on the occasion of her marriage. Decorated with motifs from the “Hatsune” (The First Warbler) chapter of the Heian-period narrative The Tale of Genji, this particular trousseau followed Princess Chiyohime to her new home. This year, we have three items from the Hatsune trousseau, all decorated extravagantly in gold and silver using maki-e lacquer. Supplementing them are paintings featuring other Genji-related motifs, as well as items from another Edo-period trousseau.

特集展示:琉球王国文化遺産集積・再興事業 巡回展『手わざ - 琉球王国の文化 -』
Cultural Exchange Exhibition Hall—Feature Exhibition

TEWAZA
Recreating Ryukyuan Handicraft Culture

19 October 2021 (Tue) – 12 December 2021 (Sun)


Modernization and warfare have led to the disappearance of many valuable cultural relics from the Ryukyu Kingdom (present-day Okinawa Prefecture), as well as the knowledge and skills to make them. Since 2015, the Okinawa Prefectural Museum has undertaken the herculean task of using modern scholarly approaches and state-of-the-art technology to document, analyze, and revive cultural heritages once lost to us. This exhibition will present their findings and re-creations in a variety of fields, from fine arts to decorative arts, and even musical instruments. Delve deeper into the unique tale of cultural exchange as told by these objects, which hark from a region both culturally distinct from, yet historically intertwined with the rest of Japan.

特別公開:『海の神殿・沖ノ島の美』
Cultural Exchange Exhibition Hall—Special Display

Exquisite Offerings on an Island Shrine

2 November 2021 (Tue) – 5 December 2021 (Sun)

范道生
Cultural Exchange Exhibition Hall—Feature Exhibition

Ming Expression in Edo Temples
Commemorating the 350th Death Anniversary of Buddhist Sculptor Fan Daosheng

17 July 2021 (Sat) – 10 October 2021 (Sun)


Fan Daosheng (1635–70) was a sculptor of Buddhist statues from Fujian, China. During the early Edo period (17th–19th century), he made his way to Nagasaki, Japan, where he worked at the Fukusaiji and Kōfukuji temples. He was subsequently invited to work as a sculptor at the Manpukuji Temple in Uji, Kyoto by none other than its founder, Yinyuan Longqi, the monk who had also established the Ōbaku Zen sect of Buddhism in Japan. As the Ōbaku sect gained traction in Japan, Fan’s sculptures at Manpukuji, and the late-Ming Chinese style of Buddhist sculpture that they embodied, also garnered considerable popularity among Zen temples in Japan. In this way, Fan’s unique works left their mark on Japanese Buddhist sculpture history. In commemoration of the 350th anniversary of Fan’s death in 2020, we have put together this exhibition to celebrate Fan’s works, including but not limited to his sculptures, paintings, and writings.

古代ガラスの世界
Cultural Exchange Exhibition Hall—Feature Exhibition

The Colorful World of Ancient Glass
An Okayama Orient Museum Collection Showcase

6 July 2021 (Tue) – 3 October 2021 (Sun)


The Okayama Orient Museum boasts an extensive collection of archaeological artifacts from the ancient region of Mesopotamia and its surroundings. In light of the museum’s renovation, they have placed their collection temporarily into our care, and graciously allowed us to showcase them in our exhibition space. For this Feature Exhibition, we will be casting a spotlight on the region’s history in glasswork, displaying the stone vessels, faience, and glazed wares of old, as well as their eventual replacements following the advent of glass. We will also present research findings from the Okayama Orient Museum’s ongoing scientific investigation into these artifacts. Supplementing these works are some ceramics from the Islamic world in their museum’s collection. This exhibition will also explore the relationship between glass and glaze, thereby connecting these West Asian works to the artisanal crafts of East Asia.

天神展
Cultural Exchange Exhibition Hall—Feature Exhibition

Tales of Tenjin

2 February 2021 (Tue) – 28 March 2021 (Sun)


Tenjin, the god of learning, is the deification of the Heian poet and scholar Sugawara no Michizane. Stories of his life have inspired many works of art, and over time, also evolved into regional versions of his legends. This exhibition brings together works that illustrate the world of Tenjin and the stories associated with him.

初音の調度
Cultural Exchange Exhibition Hall New Year Special Display

Hatsune Maki-e Lacquer Trousseau
National Treasure from the Tokugawa Art Museum

1 January 2021 (Fri) – 24 January 2021 (Sun)


The New Year: a time for new things. New clothes, new resolutions, and perhaps even a new chapter in life. All these come together in our tenth annual New Year Special Display of the Hatsune Maki-e Lacquer Trousseau, a National Treasure on loan from the Tokugawa Art Museum. This spectacular trousseau is an example of a set of furnishings that would have been created specially for a princess in the Edo period on the occasion of her marriage. Decorated with motifs from the “Hatsune” (The First Warbler) chapter of the Heian-period narrative The Tale of Genji, this particular trousseau followed Princess Chiyohime to her new home. This year, we have three items from the Hatsune trousseau, all decorated extravagantly in gold and silver using maki-e lacquer. Supplementing them are a handscroll depicting an Edo-period wedding procession, as well as items from another Edo-period trousseau.

織物に魅せられて
Cultural Exchange Exhibition Hall—Feature Exhibition

Treasures from the Tearoom
Prized Textiles of the Maeda Clan

1 December 2020 (Tue) – 24 January 2021 (Sun)


Did you know that Japanese tea practitioners have a culture of collecting beautiful, imported textiles? These textiles, known as meibutsugire, had been imported from China and the rest of Asia before the sixteenth century, and were subsequently used in tea ceremonies, or to mount calligraphy and paintings into hanging scrolls for decorating tearooms. The proliferation of tea ceremonies eventually sparked a culture of collecting fine textiles among tea practitioners, who assembled them into albums to be admired, or to be reused at a later time. This exhibition casts a spotlight onto the textile collection assembled by the Maeda clan, who governed Kaga Domain in the Edo period.

しきしまの大和へ
Cultural Exchange Exhibition Hall—Feature Exhibition

Celebrating 15 Years of Kyushu National Museum
Yamato: The Cradle of Japanese Civilization

28 July 2020 (Tue) – 20 December 2020 (Sun)


The prefecture we now know as Nara, famous for its deer and its giant Buddha statue, was once known as Yamato. It is also a site where many historically significant artifacts have been unearthed. These artifacts bear witness to how elements of foreign cultures came to Japan and helped pave the way for Yamato’s development into the capital of a nation. Come and see treasures excavated from the ancient capital of Japan, and discover the roots of Japanese culture.

筑紫の神と仏
Cultural Exchange Exhibition Hall—Feature Exhibition

Celebrating 15 Years of Kyushu National Museum and Commemorating 100 Years of the Dazaifu Historical Site Designation
Worship in Tsukushi

2 June 2020 (Tue) – 30 August 2020 (Sun)


The ancient city of Dazaifu functioned not only as a regional government center within Kyushu, but also as Japan’s window of trade with continental Asia. Historical accounts testify to how it flourished as a center of culture, yet beneath all that lay a society gripped by unrest stemming from political dispute and illness. Such anxiety caused the people to turn to worship of gods or Buddhism, as they offered prayers to local deities and Buddhist figures alike in hopes of a peaceful life. This exhibition features artifacts that reflect the diversity in forms of worship in Dazaifu.

きゅーはく どうぶつえん
Cultural Exchange Exhibition Hall—Feature Exhibition

The Wild World of Kyuhaku

2 June 2020 (Tue) – 12 July 2020 (Sun)


Animals! Animals, everywhere! Kyushu National Museum has invited a zoo of creatures both real and imaginary to its halls. Come see how people of the past painted tigers, sculpted elephants, and molded horses in this exciting new exhibition that is sure to appeal to little ones and adults alike!

刀剣ことはじめ
Cultural Exchange Exhibition Hall—Feature Exhibition

An Introduction to Swords
Touken World Foundation and Kyushu National Museum

1 January 2020 (Wed) – 24 February 2020 (Mon)


Japanese swords have always been a subject of fascination both within and outside of Japan. Global interest in Japanese swords has grown over the past few years, and continues to do so even as we enter a new decade. Nevertheless, the barrier to understanding and appreciating these exquisite works of art looms high, the various terminology associated with sword parts and designs proving archaic and inaccessible even to the Japanese. This exhibition aims to provide an introduction to Japanese swords, with multilingual panels and descriptions explaining their main features as well as their history.

初音の調度
Cultural Exchange Exhibition Hall New Year Special Display

Hatsune Maki-e Lacquer Trousseau
National Treasure from the Tokugawa Art Museum

1 January 2020 (Wed) – 26 January 2020 (Sun)


New Year: a time for new things. New clothes, new resolutions, and perhaps even a new chapter in life. All these come together in our ninth annual New Year Special Display of the Hatsune Maki-e Lacquer Trousseau, a National Treasure on loan from the Tokugawa Art Museum. This spectacular trousseau is an example of a set of furnishings created especially for a princess in the Edo period on the occasion of her marriage. Decorated with motifs from the “Hatsune” (The First Warbler) chapter of the Heian-period narrative The Tale of Genji, this trousseau followed Princess Chiyohime to her new home. This year, we have three items from the Hatsune trousseau, all decorated extravagantly in gold and silver using maki-e lacquer. Supplementing them are artworks also inspired by The Tale of Genji, as well as items from another Edo-period trousseau. This New Year’s season, come and see what a princess in that period would have brought with her as she entered a new stage in life.

「文化財よ、永遠に」
Cultural Exchange Exhibition Feature Exhibition

Feature Exhibition: Commemorating 30 Years of Conservation Projects by the Sumitomo
Foundation “New Life for Timeless Art”

September 10, 2019 (Tue) – November 4, 2019 (Mon)


It is not possible for anything that has form to hold its shape for eternity. For cultural properties made of fragile materials like lacquer and silk, periodic restoration is essential. Cultural properties that are given a new lease on life with financial assistance from Sumitomo Foundation will be displayed, proving that there is meaning to their restoration.

文化財よ、永遠に

Cultural Exchange Exhibition Feature Exhibition

Eastward Expansion of Printed Sutras: Tsushima built the relationship of printed sutras between Asia and Japan

October 29, 2019 (Tue) – December 22, 2019 (Sun)


During the Japan-Korea exchange in the Muromachi period, the shogunate families and feudal lords, as well as the Sō clan in Tsushima, had hoped for the Tripiṭaka (Buddhist scriptures), which were printed in China and the Korean Peninsula, to achieve widespread popularity. They presented the Buddhist scriptures as an offering to temples and shrines to pray for the national peace as well as their own prestige and power. This exhibition will feature the relationship of printed sutras and Tsushima, as well as introduce their role in facilitating cultural exchange between East Asia in medieval times.

文化財よ、永遠に
Cultural Exchange Exhibition Feature Exhibition

Jomon Kingdom, Yamanashi

October 29, 2019 (Tue) – December 22, 2019 (Sun)


The Jomon period had continued for nearly ten thousand years. Its golden age was celebrated in the middle of the Central Highland and its surrounding regions, and the ornately designed flame-shaped earthenware from Niigata was created in various places. This exhibition will showcase the appeal of Jomon culture in Yamanashi through earthenware from the Shakado Historic Ruins in Central Highland.