Elegant Designs of Japanese Ancient Mirrors

Mirrors in everyday use today are mostly made of glass manufactured since the modern era. Before then, mirrors were usually produced from metals. Metal mirrors were already used 4000 years ago in ancient Egypt, and in China, bronze mirrors came to be produced by the late Zhou dynasty in the 5th century BC. To Japan during the Yayoi period, bronze mirrors were introduced from continental Asia in the 2nd century BC. The following Kofun through Nara periods from the 4th to 8th centuries saw the active production of bronze mirrors as imitations of imported mirrors.

Various decorative designs were casted onto the reverse sides of polished mirrors. Initially during the 8th through the 10th centuries, designs mostly imitated Chinese mirrors by placing auspicious flowers, birds, and beasts in circulating form. These expressions gradually became delicate, and in the 11th century and beyond, animals, plants, and other seasonal motifs came to represent Japanese taste. Such developments in uniquely Japanese designs and styles continued until the Edo period (1603-1868).

This thematic exhibition looks into the variant decorative expressions and styles of Japanese mirrors beginning from the “Chinese-style” mirrors of the Nara period in the 8th century, featuring works from the Heian to the Edo period.