Special Exhibitions

Kūkai (774–835) founded the Shingon school in Japan after studying a systematized form of esoteric Buddhist teachings in China under the monk Huiguo (746–805). The Shingon school has since grown to comprise over fifty sects and branches, which have continuously preserved Kūkai’s teachings for over 1,200 years.
The special exhibition Kūkai and the Treasures of Shingon Buddhism is a belated celebration of the 1,250th anniversary of Kūkai’s birth—an event officially marked in 2023.
Throughout the exhibition, visitors will trace the journey of Kūkai’s faith as it spread across a broad geographic region. They will further discover how his teachings and the many sacred treasures associated with him have survived to present day.

The artist Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858) was primarily a commercial print designer working in ukiyo-e, a genre of woodblock prints and paintings depicting popular subjects. His striking landscapes evoking the changing seasons and vibrant images of birds and flowers marked the beginning of a new era in ukiyo-e. Today, Hiroshige’s name is most strongly associated with his landscape prints. He captured the beauty of scenic places across Japan, carving out a unique place for himself through inventive compositional layouts, clever methods of signaling shifts in time and weather, and by seamlessly integrating local inhabitants. His approachable yet innovative style won him a massive following during the Edo period (1603–1868).
The Tokyo National Museum was recently gifted 1,025 ukiyo-e prints from the collection of Uchiyama Susumu (1893–1980). Over the course of his life, Uchiyama built a high-quality collection of prints, largely focused on Hiroshige’s works, and made significant contributions to the popularization and study of ukiyo-e through exhibitions and publications showcasing his collection.
To commemorate the acquisition of these invaluable works, the Museum is holding a three-part exhibition featuring Hiroshige’s most renowned prints in the landscape and bird-and-flower genres, with a special look at his three most iconic series: The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō Road (Part One), The Sixty-Nine Stations of the Kiso Road (Part Two), and One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Part Three). The exhibition constitutes a globally unprecedented opportunity to view all three works in their entirety.
Visit to discover how the master printmaker Hiroshige breathed new life into Edo Japan’s most famous scenic views.

All works on view will change in each of the exhibition’s three parts.
Part One: September 29–October 25
Part Two: October 27–November 23
Part Three: November 25–December 20