temporary closure（2025/3/21–3/29）
Mingei, Unintentional Beauty
-what Naoto Fukasawa is touched
March 30th to June 1st, 2025
Why are people attracted to unintentional beauty of mingei born out of nature? Naoto Fukasawa, product designer and Museum director, selects what he is touched and inspired from the Museum collection, and will shed lights on the appeal of mingei in terms of ‘warmth’, ‘loveliness’, and ‘intimacy’. Mingei, the crystallization of the beauty of daily life, will serve as an important criterion to confirm production and living in the future.
Deep square dish, white satsuma pottery.
Naeshirogawa. Edo period, 19th century.
10.5×21.5cm.
temporary closure（2025/6/2–6/13）
Shiko Munakata Ⅰ
Inspiration from Words
June 14th to July 27th, 2025
This is the first chapter of Shiko Munakata’s special exhibition. Shiko Munakata, who had strong interests in words and phrase, carved images inspired by poems and stories by poets and novelists onto woodblocks, forming his unique world. The works with his powerful messages will be exhibited to explore Munakata’s attitude towards words.
Prince Yamatotakeru.
Shiko Munakata. 1936.
26.4×36.5cm.
temporary closure（2025/7/28–8/1）
Shiko Munakata Ⅱ
Expression of Respect
August 2nd to September 15th, 2025
The second chapter of Shiko Munakata’s special exhibition. Shiko Munakata expressed his reverence for the people he respected as masters or his collaborators in his numerous works. This exhibition also includes the works after 1942, when he decided to call his works ‘板画 (board-painting)’ with his affection toward boards themselves, and explores Munakata who showed his gratitude and appreciation for everything.
(left) lightning patten/ Green Chestnuts.
from 'In Praise of Shokei, the Kiln of Kanjiro Kawai'
six-fold screen. Shiko Munakata.
woodblock print on paper, colored from the back. 1945.
temporary closure（2025/9/16–9/20）
Shiko Munakata Ⅲ
the Sacred figures
September 21st to November 5th, 2025
The final chapter of Shiko Munakata’s special exhibition. Munakata had felt closer to the existence of Buddha from his childhood. Then he deepened his understanding toward religion through teachings by Yanagi and others, and produced various series of works on Buddhism. Please enjoy Munakata’s quintessential world of the Sacred figures.
Honshin-no-saku, from the series of ‘Kannon-kyo’ (the Avalokitesvara Sutra).
hanging scrolls. Shiko Munakata.
woodblock print on paper, colored from the back.
1938. 41.5×50.5cm.
temporary closure（2025/11/6–11/21）
New Works Competition and Exhibition 2025
November 22nd to December 17th, 2025
New Works Competition and Exhibition 2024 poster
temporary closure（2025/11/6–11/21）
Abstract Beauty and Soetsu Yanagi
January 6th to March 10th, 2026
In the 1950’s, Yanagi’s late years, abstract art attracted a great deal of attention in the Japanese art world including the exhibition ‘Abstract and Illusion’ at National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. Yanagi contributed the article ‘On the Beauty of Abstract’ (1957) to the magazine Kokoro (mind). This article, in which Yanagi explained old yet new abstract beauty, developed into Mingei magazine vol.63 (March 1958) featuring abstract patterns, and a number of illustrations were introduced. This exhibition is mainly organized with abstract patterns crafts which were featured in the special issue, and explored what was abstract beauty through Yanagi’s aesthetics.
Blanket (from Mingei vol.63 featuring abstract patterns).
the Navajo, North America.
the second half of 19th century.
99.8×60.7cm.
