Special Exhibition

Splendid Hina Miniatures: Doll Festival Dolls from the Toraya Collection

Period: February 25th, Saturday - April 8th, Sunday, 2012
Closed on Mondays

Hours: 10 am to 5 pm (entrance closed at 4:30 pm)

General admission: Adult 1200 yen, Student 1000 yen

Toraya is one of Japan’s oldest confectionary companies. Upon the occasion of the first Doll Festival celebration of his daughter born in 1897, Kurokawa Mitsukage, 14th generation head of the firm, commissioned a set of dolls and their equipment. This display of approximately 300 items, including dolls and their furnishings, is presented for the first time in six years.

These are typical examples of the Kyoto-style dolls created by the famous Kyoto dollmaker Maruhei Ōki Ningyō-ten. The female doll (Mebina) with a splendidly decorated crown has a realistic and regular featured face, and wears classically vibrant and lovely garments.

The extremely small doll furnishings and equipment with decoration worked in intricate detail are superb examples by late Edo period artisans. The works decorated overall with peony and vining plant designs in makie lacquer were created by the luxury doll furnishings maker, Nanasawa-ya of the Ikenohata district of Tokyo.

The Toraya Doll Festival collection boasts a complete range of dolls, equipment and design variations. The Empress and Emperor dolls and their festival celebrate the coming of spring and encompass prayers for the health of all the girl children in a family.

Special Exhibition

Irises and Eight Bridges: Masterpieces by Kōrin from the Nezu Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Period: April 21st, Saturday - May 20th, Sunday, 2012
Closed on Mondays, except April 30th

Hours: 10 am to 5 pm (entrance closed at 4:30 pm), 【April 28th - May 20th】 10 am to 6 pm (entrance closed at 5:30 pm)

General admission: Adult 1200 yen, Student 1000 yen

The Nezu Museum National Treasure Irises screens created in the early 18th century by Kyoto artist Ogata Kōrin (1658–1716) are a masterpiece in the history of Japanese painting. Based on a scene from the Yatsuhashi or Eight Bridges section of The Tales of Ise, this pair of six-panel folding screens with gold leaf ground presents vivid images of irises painted in ultramarine. This work is considered representative of Kōrin’s early phase of what was a quite late development as a painter.

About a dozen years later, after his sojourn in Edo, Kōrin set his sights on painting another work on this same theme and created the Eight Bridges screens. Unlike the Nezu Irises screens the Eight Bridges screens include motifs hinting at the Eight Bridges, along with the irises, in all the more mysterious compositional arrangement.

After almost a century of separation, this exhibition brings together Kōrin’s Irises screens and Eight Bridges screens, two works which are in collections separated by the Pacific Ocean. Two pairs of six-panel gold screens on the same theme, painted at different times in Kōrin’s career. This exhibition will provide a long-awaited opportunity to examine the glorious results of Kōrin’s inimitable talents.