Exhibitions

Grand Reopening Exhibition – Masterpieces from the Museum’s Collection and Hiroshi Sugimoto’s “Seascapes: Atami”

2017.02.05(Sun) - 2017.03.14(Tue)

Overview

Exhibitions

Commemorating the reopening of the museum, we exhibit masterpieces of Japanese and Chinese art, carefully selected from the collection of our founder, Mokichi Okada. We also show Seascapes: Atami from Mr. Hiroshi Sugimoto’s iconic Seascapes series, and one of his video works, Accelerated Buddha. In addition, three National Treasures are on display: the screens Red and White Plum Blossoms, a representative work of Ogata Korin; the Tea Jar with a Wisteria Design, a masterpiece of Nonomura Ninsei, said to be the most beautiful tea jar ever made by the master of Kyoko ceramics; and the calligraphy album Kanbokujyo. Please enjoy the long-cherished quintessence of Japanese beauty in new exhibition spaces.

Must See Point

National Treasure, Red and White Plum Blossoms by Ogata Korin on display for the first time in a year!

National Treasure, Red and White Plum Blossoms by Ogata Korin, a master of Rinpa will be on display for the first time in a year. Please enjoy one of the museum’s most cherished treasures in a new display alcove laid with tatami and decorated on front of the raised floor with several hundred year-old gyoja cedar.

Tea Jar with a Design of Wisteria in a newly created special gallery!

One of the renovations planned was the creation of a special gallery to exhibit the Tea-leaf jar with a design of wisteria, a National Treasure famous as being the greatest masterpiece among the many tea jars created by Nonomura Ninsei. Please enjoy viewing this long-cherished National Treasure in a new modern space featuring walls coated with a dark black plaster called edoguro.

Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Red and White Plum Blossoms Under Moon Light on view!

We are presenting the Red and White Plum Blossoms under Moonlight by Hiroshi Sugimoto. The work is an homage and new interpretation of the National Treasure, Red and White Plum Blossoms The Artist photographed the master piece and created a pair of screen in 2015 in rgards to the exhibition “Korin and Modern Art”, the 300th anniversary after the passing of Ogata Korin.

Juxtaposition of Buddhist Art from the Museum’s Collection and Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Accelerated Buddha!

We are also presenting masterpieces of Buddhist art from the Museum’s collection together with a video installation titled Accelerated Buddha. After 10 years of process to get permission Sugimoto photographed Senju-kannon, or Thousand-Armed Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara figures at the temple of Sanjusangendo in 1995. Later in 1997 by using these images Sugimoto created a video piece in which viewer can see more than 1 million Buddha within 5 minutes. The piece was modified to three-way projection as shown in the gallery in 2012.

Photographs taken of Atami from Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Seascapes series on view!

We will be showing Seascapes: Atami, from the series Seascapes, Hiroshi Sugimoto’s representative work, which made his name known throughout the world.

Main Works

National Treasure
RED AND WHITE PLUM BLOSSOMS

Ogata KōrinEdo period, 18th c.

National Treasure
Tea-leaf Jar with a design of wisteria

Nonomura NinseiEdo period (17th century)

National Treasure
THE CALLIGRAPHY ALBUM KAMBOKUJŌ

Nara - Muromachi periods

Important Cultural Property
PORTRAIT OF TAIRA-NO-KANEMORI FROM THE THIRTY-SIX MASTER POETS

Kamakura period, 13th c.

Important Cultural Property
SCENES OF EUROPEAN WAYS OF LIFE

Momoyama period, 16th c.

Important Cultural Property
WOMEN IN SEASONS OF SNOW, MOON AND FLOWER

Katsukawa ShunshōEdo period, 18th c.

Important Cultural Property
STANDING STATUE OF SHŌ KANNON BOSATSU( AVALOKITESVARA )

Nara period, 8th c.

Important Cultural Property
Two Characters of “Gui Yun”

by Priest Wuzhun Shifan

Important Cultural Property
FRAGMENT TSUGI-SHIKISHI

Attributed to Ono-no-MichikazeHeian period, Middle 10th c.

Important Cultural Property
DISH Nabeshima ware,

Edo period, late 17th - early 18th c.

Important Cultural Property
WRITING BOX

Attributed to Hon'ami Kōetsu (1558 - 1637)Momoyama - Edo period, 17th c.

Red and White Plum Blossoms Under Moon Light

Hiroshi Sugimoto2015

Accelerated Buddha

Hiroshi Sugimoto1994

Seascapes: ATAMI

Hiroshi Sugimoto1997

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Japanese Art

It was in the latter Heian period that portraits began to show individualistic features of the models. The trend continued on into the Kamakura period, developing into a whole new genre of painting called nise-e, or likeness pictures, which represented the models realistically capturing their character as well as their distinctive facial features. A representative work of this genre is “The Thirty-Six Master Poets” of the Sataka Version, which is considered the culmination of yamato-e portrait painting.
The existing picture scrolls were all produced after the latter Kamakura period and this Satake Version of the two-volume set of scrolls, so called as it was transmitted in the Satake family, the former feudal lords of Akita, is the oldest work among them.
This portrait of Taira-noKanemori was the last picture in the first scroll. Facial features are drawn in simple but sharp, precise lines, and the eyebrows, depicted with multiple strokes of thin, delicate lines, are full of character, revealing the great skill of the artist.

Christianity arrived in Japan during the Momoyama period and seminaries and colleges were founded by missionaries to educate the converts. At the same time, mission art academy was also founded and many attended the workshops to learn the subjects and techniques of European paintings, in particular, oil painting on copper and religious paintings. This screen, too, was probably painted by a Japanese artist who studied Western paintings, in order to spread Christianity.
The painting depicts Europeans upon a hill over looking the bay, enjoying music, reading or just talking. It is very much like the scenes of European way of life and the trees and flocks of sheep, Temple of Love, and castle are subjects often depicted in European medieval copperplate prints.
The efforts to master European techniques can be seen, for example in the three-dimensional depiction using shadows and in mixing Japanese pigments with walnut or perilla oil to create an effect similar to oil painting which were techniques never seen in Japanese paintings before. This is a valuable example of the last of the early Japanese paintings executed in the Western style.

During the Momoyama and early Edo periods, everyday life of the common people became an important subject of paintings. The paintings were first done by artists of traditional schools such as the Kano school, but townsman artists (machie-shi) gradually took over until genre paintings came to be created essentially by these artists. There was also a change in the paintings themselves. Whereas the early genre paintings showed panoramic views of a mass of people gathered at festivals and temples, later paintings showed small groups of people, which eventually shifted to portrayals of individual figures. The six women in this painting are "yuna", or women working in public bathhouses which were very popular in Kyoto and Edo in the Genwa and Kan'ei eras (1615-44). At first, the women only assisted their customers in their ablutions, scrubbing their backs and washing their hair, but they gradually began providing other services, joining their customers afterwards in eating and merrymaking. This however was banned by the government in 1657 when Yoshiwara was established. The beautiful costumes with their decorative patterns are a characteristic feature of the genre paintings of this period. It is interesting to note that the pattern of the kimono worn by the second girl from the left is based on the Chinese character which stands for "bath". The six women wantonly strolling down the street are full of life, and very different from the idealized beauties depicted half a century later in the Kanbun era (1661-1672).

Katsukawa Shuso (1726-92) was a ukiyo-e artist of the mid-Edo period and founder of the Katsukawa school. He produced numerous woodblock prints and picture books, and is especially we-known for having revolutionalized the portrayal of Kabuki actors. Breaking away from the orthodox Torii style, he designed prints which captured the actual likeness of the actor’s facial features. He was also a top-class ukiyo-e painter.
The paintings are parody pictures of three literary female figures of the Heian period. The left scroll shows Seishonagon, represented as a samurai’s wife rolling up the bamboo blind in order to enjoy the snow in the garden. The center scroll is Murasaki Shikibu, the author of the “Tale of Genji”, depicted here as a samurai’s daughter, sitting at a desk at Ishiyama-dera with a roll of paper and a brush in her hands, looking up at the moon as she composes a poem. The right scroll is Ono-no-Komachi, represented as a geisha who marvels at the blooming cherry blossoms. The kimono worn by the woman in the center scroll is executed in a rich manner using horinuri (unpainted lines), while in the left and right hand scrolls, the figures are done in light, flowing lines. The costumes and hairstyles depicted represent the fashions of Edo and this painting really captures their beauty.

This fragment is from a collection of poems selected from various anthologies such as “Manyoshu” and “Kokin Wakashu”. Not much is known about the collection, which was originally in the form of a book bound in the detchoso style. Of the extant poems numbering about twenty, sixteen and a half remained in the possession of the Maeda family of Kaga Daisho-ji until 1906. The book was square and when opened, showed a waka poem transcribed over the opened two pages. Since the pages looked like two joined shikishi, they came to be called “tsugi-shikishi”, meaning “patched shikishi”.
The name does not appear in the collections of kohitsu (old calligraphy works) compiled in the latter Edo period, so it is believed that the name was given comparatively in the recent years.
This piece shows a poem from the 17th volume of “Kokin Wakashu”, written in a natural and elegant style and scattered across the two pages, effectively using the blank space to enhance the beauty of the work. Another characteristic is the use of “sogana”, which are simplified Chinese characters. Tsugi-shikishi is considered one of the three best calligraphy works executed on shikishi and is treasured as kakemono (hanging scroll) for decorating tearoom alcoves.

Nabeshima kilns, under the direct management of the Nabeshima feudal lords, produced the most delicate porcelains, which are to this day highly valued. Large plates decorated with a design of peaches, such as the one illustrated here, are especially famous and admired as masterpieces encompassing all the exquisite techniques.
This plate, large, deep and perfectly round in shape, stands on a tall foot and is covered with a transparent white glaze. The side is decorated with a picture of three peaches with leaves and a flowering peach tree. The motifs were first executed in underglaze blue on a ground brushed with a light cobalt blue pigment. After the firing, the peach flowers and the fruits were colored in overglaze enamels of red, yellow and green. The peaches were outlined in red enamel, carefully painting over the line depiction in underglaze blue, and then given a shading wash. The peaches to the right and left have further been painted with a number of small red dots. It is very difficult to accurately place these dots, and this technique, called “chibo-uchi”, is said to require at least three years of training to master. As in many Nabeshima ware, the rim of the plate has been left white to effectively enhance the beauty of the plate. The back side is decorated in three areas with blossoming sprays of peonies, and the foot, which taper slightly at the bottom, is decorated with the shippo-tsunagi (interlocking circles) pattern.
The peach, often pictured on Japanese ceramics, is considered an auspicious subject. Chinese in origin, it is often seen on Chinese gosai (five-color) and fusai (Chinese: fengcai, application of cloisonné technique on ceramics) wares of the Ching Dynasty. The potters of Okawachi kiln were perhaps fond of the legends of Seiobo (Chinese; His Wang Mu, a goddess in whose garden peaches promising immortality were grown), as many of their products are decorated with designs of peaches, all of which are of exceedingly high quality and beauty.

Illustrated is a writing box of the fukuro-gata (pouch-shaped) style, with a convex cover and generously rounded corners. Inside the box is a copper wate dropper and an inkstone placed to the left, a brush holder placed to the right, and a space for a small sword carved out to the far right. The design on the top surface of the cover is one of a woodcutter coming down the hill with a bundle of brushwood on his back. The large figure is rendered in abalone shells and lead sheets on a ground of black lacquer. The earth beneath his feet executed in gold hira-makie continues from there to the back of the lid, the interior of the box, and the bottom of the box in a continuous composition of a mountain path with a growth of brackens and dandelions along the way, executed also in abalone shells and lead sheets.
The design is believed to illustrate Ootomo-no-Kuronushi from the No song, “Shiga”. The woodcutter, depicted with a sense of movement, and the beautifully stylized bracken and dandelions are magnificent, exuding an aura of elegance quite similar to the shikishi and poem scrolls on which Koetsu and Sotatsu are thought to have collaborated. The bold use of lead and mother-of-pearl, as well as the originality of the design, indicate that Koetsu, a leading designer of the day, was personally involved in the making of this box. The box was originally a part of the Hara Sankei collection.

Chinese Art

In this picture, main elements are pushed to one corner, and the background is almost all eliminated, leaving a great deal of blank space. This composition, called the “one-corner composition”, was popular among Ma Yuan’s school of artists during the Southern Song period. It was also inherited by professional painters not belonging to the academy, and in the Zhejiang region, was passed down through many generations of painters. Ma Yuan was a representative artist of the Southern Song Imperial Academy of Painting and he was most active during the Guangzong and Ningzong periods (1189-1224). The painting was previously in the collection of the Kuroda family.
depicting a myna bird in flight, and the Idemitsu Museum of Arts owns the other, depicting a myna bird at rest. There is Mu Qi’s white-lettered seal in the lower left hand side, and the double-border red-lettered seal of “Tenzan” (Ashikaga Yoshimitsu’s pen name) in the lower right hand side, proving this work to have been a part of the Ashikaga shogunal collection during the Muromachi period.

A myna bird is perched on a small branch with just a few leaves. Its relaxing pose with its neck turned is depicted by simple, swift strokes and the stillness is strictly expressed only through the shading of the monochrome ink. At the bottom right, there is a chop “Tenzan” which was Yoshimitsu’s pseudonym, indicating that this was a treasure of the Ashikaga Shogunate.

Bushun Shiban/Butsugan Zenji (Wuzhun Shifan, 1178-1249) was one of the most renowned Zen masters of the Southern Song China. He became the 34th abbot of Manju-ji (Wanshou) Temple located on Kin-zan (Mt. Jing) and resided there for twenty years during which time, he became a most highly revered priest, well-known in China as well as abroad. He also taught Zen principles to Emperor Lizong, and was awarded the title of “Butsugan Zenji” (Mirror of the Buddha, Zen Teacher). Many Japanese monks went to China to study under him, the most famous being Ben8en Enni (Shoitsu Kokushi) who, after receiving his enlightenment certificate, returned to Japan and founded Tofuku-ji Temple in Kyoto. Because of the two men’s relationship, Tofuku-ji owned many pieces of calligraphy that Bushun had sent to Enni, where now 19 works are preserved. An old document prepared in 1316 lists the framed calligraphy works by Bushun Shiban owned by the temple. It shows that there were 46 works, revealing that many flowed out of the temple at an early date. The calligraphy shown here, which was probably meant to be framed and hung in the temple, is believed to be one such work. The work later came into the hands of the Tokugawa family where it was handed down through the ages.

During the Ming period of China, there were official kilns called guan-yao directly run by the government, and the products of which were exclusively supplied for the imperial courts or governmental officials, and during the Northern Song dynasty, official kilns, the Ru Guan kiln and Northern Song Guan kiln were established. In 1127, The Jin resumed their war against the Song and the Song court retreated south of the Yangtze and established its capital at Lin’an (now Hangzhou) in 1138. And during the Southern Song dynasty, firstly Xiuneisi official ware kilin and Jiaotan official ware kiln were established.
Jiaotan kilns located at the foot of Tortoise Hill (Wugui shan) came to be called by this name because they were in close proximity of Jiaotan, the Sacrificial Altar to Heaven and Heaven and Earth where the Emperors prayed to heaven. Because of the high iron content in the clay, Jiaotan ware has a deep, mystifying color and is characterized by miniscule irregular crackles that cover the entire glazed surface. This is a large jar which was discovered from the ruins of Yuan Ming Yuan, an extravagant Summer Palace of the Qing dynasty. A renowned masterpiece, the jar, elegant and refined, is covered in a glaze the color of jasper and is surprisingly light in weight.

Buddhist art

Ingakyō (Past and Present Sutra of Karma) is a sutra comprising four volumes depicting Sakyamuni’s life and the story of his previous incarnation. E-ingakyō is the illustrated version with pictures added in the upper half of each scroll. The depiction of the robes and the scene structure are reminiscent of the style of the Six dynasties period of China, which was its model, but in the detailed depiction and the facial expressions the mild sensitivities of a Japanese artist are evident. It is a precious example of Nara period painting, of which not many remain.

Myohorenge-kyo is probably the sutra most widely copied in Japan. Called Hoke-kyo for short, it was transcribed during and after the Heian period with the belief that through this virtuous ac, the transcriber could seek protection for himself and his family as well as peaceful rest for the dead. Before long people wishing for beautiful sutras, began to decorate the manuscripts with illustrations and other ornamentations. Many such decorative sutras were made in the latter Heian period, including the famous “Heike Nokyo” dedicated to Itsukushima Shrine by the Taira family and “Kunoji-kyo” long owned by Kuno-ji Temple (present Tesshu-ji Temple) in Shizuoka prefecture.
Shown here is a typical soshokukyo, or decorative sutra. On the back of the front cover is a picture of an aristocratic man and woman enjoying conversation on a verandah over looking a garden where cherry trees are in full bloom. Tree trunks, water flowing in the garden and rocks are rendered in the traditional yamato-e style, and facial features of the figures are executed in the hikime-kagihana style (a dash for the eye and a hook for the nose) as in the “Tale of Genji” paintings, displaying the aesthetic taste of the court of the latter Heian period. Paper is decorated on the front and back with pieces of gold and silver foil, with patterns of flowers and grasses added to the top and bottom edges. The text consisting of 114 lines, each with 17 letters, is solemnly transcribed between lines drawn in gold and silver.

Illustrated is a slender figure of a standing bodhisattva adorned with elaborate strings of jewel and an intricately decorated crown. There is a small image of buddha in the center of the crown, and from this, the statue is known to represent Avalokitesvara.
This type of crown, often seen in works after the Six Dynasties period, shows a style which evolved from the three-sided crown and has two flower motifs on either side above the ears. The figure’s right hand, held up to the shoulder, holds a sacred jewel, while the left hand, down by his side, holds the tip of his scarf. Large sacred jewels embellish his shoulders, below which falls his long hair, its curled ends forming the shape of bracken fronds on the sides of his arms.
Most impressive is the magnificent halo in the shape of a sacred jewel. The inner ring has small images of the seven buddhas arranged against a ground of complex floral scroll, while the outer border is decorated with flames, all in beautiful openwork. The slightly bent back body of the figure and its symmetrical form are reminiscent of the style of the Six Dynasties, however from the gentle, round face, and the natural drapery of the scarf, it is considered a typical example from the Sui dynasty. There is a statue preserved at the Tokyo National Museum that is identical to this one except with the position of the hands reversed, and it is possible that this figure was originally a part of a triad known as the Amida Triad.

Kannon (Avalokitesvara) was originally an attendant bodhisattva of Amida but later came to be worshipped individually when it was preached that he appeared in thirty-three different forms to save sentient beings. His regular form, Sho-Kannon as it came to be called, is represented, with some exceptions, with an image of Buddha on the crown.
Illustrated is a standing Sho-Kannon, wearing a three-sided crown decorated with a small image of Buddha, holding the stalk of a lotus flower in his left hand and a string of jewels in his right. The statue, which was carved from a single piece of wood from the tip of its head to the pedestal, stands straight except for a slight movement around the hips. The volumetric treatment of the body and the intricate carvings of the crown, clothing and jewelry show an influence of the Tan style which marks the nine-faced Kannon (China, Tang dynasty) preserved at Horyuji Temple. However the soft and gentle e expression of the face and body displays a feature peculiar to Japanese Buddhist sculptures. The figure is an important example of danzo (sandalwood statue) produced in the 8th century from the Nara to the Heian period. Said to have been handed down at Enryaku-ji Temple, it is also valuable for its history.

Illustrate is a type of triad, known as the Raigo triad, with Amida in the center with his hands in the raigo mudra, a hand position for welcoming the spirits of the dead, and two kneeling attendants, Kannon on the left holding a lotus lower, and Seishi on the right with hands clasped together in prayer. Raigo triads are very rare and there are only a few other examples, such as the one at Ojo-Gokurakuin (main hall) of Sanzen-in Temple in Ohara, Kyoto.
Amida has a relaxed atmosphere and a mild expression on his broad face, quite appropriate for welcoming the spirits of those wishing to be taken to the Pure Land. His halo, consisting of a double round nimbus embellished with palmetto motifs within a large boat-shaped frame decorated with flying asparas in openwork, is beautiful and add a delicate softness. This calm, peaceful style, called Jocho-yo, was established by Jocho, the master Buddhist sculptor in the mid-11th century. Jocho long influenced the Japanese sculptors, and this statue, though produced probably in the latter Heian period, still follows his style. The piece is an important example of Raigo Amida triads that were produced in accordance with the growing popularity of Mappo (a decadent age when no one would be enlightened) and the flourishing belief in the Pure Land in the late Heian period.

Hiroshi Sugimoto

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Information

Period

From February 5, 2017 (Sunday) to March 14, 2017 (Tuesday)

Opening hours

9:30a.m. – 4:30p.m. (Admission until 4:00p.m.)

Holidays

Open through the Exhibition

Admission Fees

Adults 1,600 yen
High school and college students with ID 1,000 yen
Children under junior high school free of charge
Seniors with ID (aged over 65) 1,400yen
Disabled persons (in possession of a disability certificate) 800yen
* Group discount for 10 or more people; Adults 1,300yen, Students 700yen