Family Gallery
All About Elephants at the Museum
All About Elephants at the Museum
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Elephant-Shaped Incense Burner, By Tōgō Jukatsu, Meiji era, 19th century
Japanese Gallery (Honkan) Room T2
April 22, 2025 (Tue) - June 1, 2025 (Sun)Every year, the Tokyo National Museum holds a joint thematic exhibition related to animals together with other institutions in Ueno. Along with the Ueno Zoological Gardens and the National Museum of Nature and Science, we are proud to introduce this year's thematic exhibition on elephants.
The present exhibition is divided into smaller sub-themes, namely: “Prologue: Encountering Elephants,” “Elephants and Religious Beliefs,” “The World of Ivory,” and “Wonderful Elephant Shapes.” By engaging with the elephant-themed works from Japan and various other countries in Asia, we hope that you can come to understand how humans have interacted with elephants throughout history, as well as how this relationship has been expressed through decorative art objects.
| Designation | Name | Creation/ Excavation/ Provenance |
Period | Acquisition/ Ownership/ Accession Number |
CMT | ||
| Highlight | The Museum's Album of Beasts | Compiled by the Museum Bureau | Meiji era, 19th century | QA-956-2 | |||
| Highlight | Elephant-Shaped Incense Burner | By Tōgō Jukatsu (1855–1936) | Meiji era, 19th century | G-4377 | |||
| Elephants (From Album of Birds, Beasts, Hawks, and Elephants) | By Kanō Hisanobu (1696–1731) | Edo period, 1729 | A-7077-4 | ||||
| Highlight | Elephant-Shaped Incense Burner | Edo period–Meiji era, 19th century | E-12740 |