Exhibitions

What is origami? Most people would describe it as is an activity in which squares of colored paper are folded to create representations of animals, objects or geometric forms. However, this would not describe the folded paper installations of Tomoko Fuse (b. 1951). Her work asks us to consider the relationships between tradition and innovation. Is her work origami, or is it sculpture made from folded paper?

In the mid-19th century, following a period of two hundred and fifty years of seclusion, Japan opened its gates to the West and trade relations with various countries were established. In addition, Japan formed a large army in order to protect its strategic interests in neighboring countries, as did many other world powers of the time.
At the end of the 19th century, Japan's territorial disputes with China on Korean soil increased and it sent troops to the region. In the early 20th century, Japan did so once again, in a similar conflict with Russia. During the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), the Japanese army fought on various fronts in Korea and in Manchuria, China.

 A new kite exhibition for families!
40 new and spectacular kites decorated with mythical fighters, historical and mythological figures, Kabuki theater actors and more are presented at the exhibition.

Hashira-e (“pillar pictures”) are woodblock prints with specific measurements. The source of these long, narrow prints and the exact dates of their provenance are not known, but it seems that they were integrated into the hanging scrolls that were traditionally used to decorate the interior supporting beams of the Japanese house.

"The people of the Isle of Zipangu (Japan) have great quantities of gold. The king's palace is of pure gold, and the floors are of gold two fingers thick." .

I first met Shuichi Nakahara in the summer of 1996, and this essay is based on conversations and meetings we have been having ever since.

The woodblock colour prints known as Ukiyo-e (Pictures from the Floating World) were widespread in Japan from the middle of the 17th century to the middle of the 19th century.

The netsuke was originally a decorated accessory on a cord which attached various implements to clothing.

Fumio Kitaoka was born in Tokyo in 1918, and is a graduate of the Department of oil painting at the Tokyo University of Art.