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Feature Exhibition of the New Year
Celebrating Longevity in The Year of the Rat

  • Image of "Wood Netsuke of a Tiny Mouse, Edo Period, 19th century (Gift of Mr. Ueno Reikichi) "

    Wood Netsuke of a Tiny Mouse, Edo Period, 19th century (Gift of Mr. Ueno Reikichi)

    Japanese Gallery (Honkan) Rooms T1 & T2
    January 2, 2008 (Wed) - January 27, 2008 (Sun)

    This display highlights works related to the rat, the animal representing 2008 in the 12 year cycle. Rats are often despised as vermin and associated with unpleasant matters. Despite this, rats have been regarded as symbols of fertility or happiness in East Asia since ancient times because of their fecundity. Works of decorative art with rat designs, paintings with rats and historical materials related to rats offer an overview of the history of how rats have been regarded.

    Another theme of this display is longevity. Up until a few generations ago, everyone became one year older on New Year's Day, rather than individual birthdays, and it was important to celebrate the New Year with family or community members. Among various annual events held by aristocrats and warriors, the New Year ceremony was especially significant. It was intended to congratulate those that had lived to see the New Year, to wish for safety and security during the year and pray for longevity. The display features works related to the New Year, using key words including "longevity," "auspiciousness" and "ceremony".

 Exhibition includes

* Works listed below are in the TNM Collection unless otherwise indicated.
 Story of Mice, Artist unkown, Edo period, 18th century
Standing Juni Shinsho (Twelve Heavenly generals), Kamakura period, 12th - 13th century (Sogenji, Kanagawa)
Large Dish, Imari ware, Radish and mouse design in underglaze blue, Edo period, 19th century (Gift of Mr. Hirano Kosuke)
Characters "Hyaku Fuku Ju" in Seal Script, By Sato Issai, Edo period, dated 1778 (Gift of Mr. Kawada Yasushi)
Wakizashi Style Sword Mounting, Flower, birds and landscape design in makie on spotted nashiji lacquer ground, Metal fittings by Goto Ichijo, Edo period, 19th century

 

 General Information
Dates Wednesday, January 2 - Sunday, January 27, 2008
Venue Tokyo National Museum (Ueno Park)
Hours 9:30 - 17:00 (last entry is 30 minutes before closing time)
Closed Mondays except January 14; Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Admissions Adults: 600 (500)yen, University Students: 400 (300)yen
* Brackets indicate fees for groups of 20 or more
* Special Exhibition "Courtly Millennium - Treasures from the Konoe Family Collection" is charged separately
* High school students and under, and persons 70 years old and over are admitted free. Please present ID upon entry
* persons with disabilities and one accompanying person are admitted free. Please present ID upon entry
Access 10 minutes' walk from JR Ueno station (Park exit) and Uguisudani station
15 minutes' walk from Keisei Ueno station, Tokyo Metro Ueno station (Ginza line, Hibiya line) and Tokyo Metro Nezu station (Chiyoda line)
General Inquiries Tokyo National Museum TEL: +81-3-3822-1111
 Featured work at Honkan (Japanese Gallery)
Pine Trees
Room 2, Honkan Wednesday, January 2 - Monday, January 14, 2008

Pine Trees(detail of right hand screen)
Pine Trees (detail of right hand screen), By Hasegawa Tohaku, Azuchi-Momoyama period, 16th century (National Treasure)

Other photos		 　 Hasegawa Tohaku painted Pine Trees in bold and rough brushwork using several brushes combined together and a bamboo stick with a split end. With shades of ink to present different degrees of illumination, the artist created a quiet grove of pine trees where shadows appear and disappear in swirling mist. The pine trees are divided into four groups, an arrangement that suggests wind is blowing through them. The coarse fibers mixed in the paper resemble pine needles blown in the wind. By glimpsing the snowy mountain peak emerging through a gap in the mist, one can almost feel the cold and moist air of early morning.

Tohaku produced this Pine Trees using the best materials, superlative skill, and minute calculations. Because of the quality of the paper and disorder in their joints, some scholars think that this was a preliminary drawing for a sliding door painting. However, the glossy ink is of the highest quality, which only elites could obtain, and suggests that this set of screens was not merely preliminary work.

Along with his rival Kano Eitoku (1543-1590), Hasegawa Tohaku is known as one of the master painters of the Momoyama period (1573-1603). He was a great admirer of the ink painting techniques from China and studied them intensively. By advancing the Chinese ink painting style to the highest point in Japan, Pine Trees can be called the best work of pre-modern ink painting by Tohaku.
 Featured work at Honkan (Japanese Gallery)
Landscapes of Autumn and Winter
Room 2, Honkan Wednesday, January 16 - Sunday, January 27, 2008

Landscapes of Autumn and Winter
Landscapes of Autumn and Winter, By Sesshu Toyo, Muromachi period, 15 - 16th century (National Treasure)

Other photos		 When viewing the painting beginning with the lower part and advancing upwards, both landscapes can be experienced in a very realistic perspective, the space developing from the foreground towards the background. There is incredible depth and unfolding space condensed in these small surfaces. They also display a firmness and intellectual layout, unknown in the field of ink paintings prior to Sesshu.

On the other hand, the individual components within the picture are rendered with very characteristic brush strokes that differ from one component to the other: the rock is rendered with simple yet strong lines, the snowy mountain rendered using a combination of round and narrow lines, dry and wet lines.

The artist of this work, Sesshu, was trained at young age at Shokokuji, and later became a Zen monk-painter active around the Onin upheavals (1467-77). He was a rare talent who succeeded in developing a strong and firm layout within the genre of Japanese ink painting (also called landscape painting). This painting is one of the most representative of his works together with the "Landscape Scroll of the Four Seasons (Long Landscape)" (Mouri Museum, Yamaguchi Prefecture) and the "View of Amanohashidate" (Kyoto National Museum).

 Thematic Exhibition of the New Year
Chinese Paintings with Auspicious Subjects - "Three Friends of Winter"
Room 8, Toyokan (Asian Gallery)
 Wednesday, January 2 - Sunday, January 27, 2008


Flowering Plants (Detail), By Zhao Zhiqian, Qing dynasty, dated 1870 (Gift of Mr. Takashima Kikujiro)
This New Year's display of Chinese paintings features works with auspicious symbols appropriate for this time of year. Pine trees and bamboo remain green even in severe cold weather, and fragrant plum blossoms bloom earlier than any other flower. In China, they were called Three Friends of Winter, and likened to people who can control themselves with unwavering will in a harsh environment. Bamboo and plum trees were joined with orchids and chrysanthemums and known as the Four Noble Plants, which signified a secluded life free from secularity.

The Three Friends of Winter were also associated with various worldly wishes of the Chinese; pine trees with longevity, bamboo with peace and many prosperous descendents, and the plum tree with easy childbirth and many prosperous descendants. Other motifs from Chinese flower and bird paintings also have various meanings. Paintings with these motifs have been popular among the Chinese people and viewed as auspicious pictures.
 Exhibition includes

* Works listed below are in the TNM Collection unless otherwise indicated.
 Two Sparrows and Plum Blossoms, Attributed to Ma Lin, Southern Song dynasty, 13th century (Important Cultural Property, Gift of Dr. Yamamoto Tatsuro)
Deer and Cranes, By Shen Quan, Qing dynasty, dated 1739 (Gift of Dr. Yamamoto Tatsuo)
Five Pine Trees, By Li Shan, Qing dynaty, 18th century
Flowering Plants, By Zhao Zhiqian, Qing dynasty, dated 1870 (Gift of Mr. Takashima Kikujiro)
Albums of Chinese Paintings "Hikkoen" : Monkey on Horseback, Artist unknown, Ming dynasty, 15th - 16th century (Important Cultural Property)
Poem in Cursive Script, By Mo Shilong, Ming dynasty, 16th century (Gift of Mr. Takashima Kikujiro)
 Family Events  (sites are subject to change)
Shishimai - "lion dance" performance
January 2, 2008  starting at 10:30 and 13:00
January 3, 2008  starting at 10:30 and 13:00
Outside Honkan (Japanese Gallery) entrance
Performed by Toto Kasai Hayashi Mutsumikai
Taiko - Japanese drums
January 2, 2008 starting at 11:00 and 13:30
January 3, 2008 starting at 11:00 and 13:30
Main Gate entrance area
Performed by Wadaiko Obiki
Yugei of Edo -Traditional vaudeville entertainment
January 2, 2008  starting at 12:00 and 14:30
Main Gate entrance area
Performed by Mr. Sekisekitei Shokai
Clarinet concert
January 3, 2008  starting at 12:00 and 15:00
Toyokan (Asian Gallery) entrance hall
Performed by "Amateur"
Ikebana flower arrangements
Wednesday, January 2 - Monday, January 14, 2008
By Prof. Kurashige Nobu, Ikenobo College
Installed at the Main Gate, Honkan, and Heiseikan
TNM&TOPPAN Museum Theater
New Year Viewing on Wednesday, January 2 and Thursday, January 3
Calendar gifts (first-come, first-served to 60 guests each day)
Yose entertainment at the Museum - Comic storytelling (in Japanese)
Sunday, January 6, 2008  starting at 13:30
Heiseikan Auditorium
Performance by Kingentei Basho, Umaji, and Umakichi
2,000 yen including regular admission fee, reservation is required by reply-paid postcard (ofuku hagaki), due date Thursday, December 18, 2007.
Inquiries: 03-3821-9270 (Tokyo National Museum, Events)
Shishimai - Shishimai - "lion dance" performance
 
Taiko - Japanese drums Taiko - Japanese drums
 Event in collaboration with Kan'eiji Temple
  Special opening of the Konpon-chudo Hall of Kan'eiji
Wednesday, January 2 and Thursday, January 3, 2008, 10:00 - 15:00
Portraits (oil paintings) of the 15 Tokugawa shoguns and the renowned garden rock "Kurokamiyama" will be on exhibit.

 the Konpon-chudo Hall of Kan'eiji The Konpon-chudo Hall of Kan'eiji
 New-year presents and sale from the Museum Shop
New-Year Presents from the Museum Shop
Wednesday, January 2 and Thursday, January 3, 2008
Raffle drawing with purchases worth 2,500 yen and over
New-Year Art Books Sale
Wednesday, January 2 - Monday, January 14, 2008
 New-year presents from the Restaurants
Restaurant L'accord
Wednesday, January 2 and Thursday, January 3
Raffle drawing with 1,500 yen per guest
Prize A : Seiyoken Gateau Selection
Prize B : Half bottle of Seiyoken white wine
Hotel Okura Garden Terrace
Wednesday, January 2 and Thursday, January 3
Amazake (hot sweet sake) served to restaurant guests
 Special Exhibitions starting from January
"Courtly Millennium - Treasures from the Konoe Family Collection"
Heiseikan, Special Exhibition Gallery
Wednesday, January 2 - Sunday, February 24, 2008
*Separate fees apply for this exhibition
Exhibitions