EVENT

Taito City Lecture & Culture

Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum 100th Anniversary: The British Museum Japanese Art Collection — A Riot of Flowers 〜 Edo Paintings Across the Seas

Special Exhibition

Edo paintings that captivated the world come together!
「A Riot of Flowers—Edo Paintings that Crossed the Seas」

Name: Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum 100th Anniversary: The British Museum Japanese Art Collection — A Riot of Flowers 〜 Edo Paintings Across the Seas
Start: 2026-07-25
End: 2026-10-18
Location: Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum Special Exhibition Room （Ueno Park, Tokyo）

At the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, the commemorative exhibition 「The British Museum Japanese Art Collection—A Riot of Flowers: Edo Paintings that Crossed the Seas」 is being held to mark the museum’s 100th anniversary. This exhibition showcases carefully selected masterpieces—including Edo-period paintings and ukiyo-e prints—from the British Museum’s approximately 40,000-piece Japanese collection, held by one of the world’s leading museums.
Works by leading Edo-period ukiyo-e artists such as Katsushika Hokusai, Kitagawa Utamaro, Utagawa Hiroshige, and Tōshūsai Sharaku will be on view, along with rare pieces returning to Japan from the United Kingdom for the first time.

Highlights of the Exhibition

POINT 01

Masterpieces of Japanese art from the British Museum

Carefully selected folding screens, hanging scrolls, handscrolls, and ukiyo-e prints from the Edo period are on view from the British Museum’s Japanese collection. Highlights include Kitagawa Utamaro’s hand-painted work 《文読む遊女》, Maruyama Ōkyo’s 《虎の子渡し図屛風》, and Katsushika Hokusai’s 《『万物絵本大全』版下絵》, which you can enjoy up close.

POINT 02

Hokusai works making their first homecoming from the UK

Katsushika Hokusai’s 《『万物絵本大全』版下絵》 is returning to Japan from the United Kingdom for the first time. This exhibition presents 8 of the 103 printing-design drawings that had long been missing.

POINT 03

Fusuma paintings reunited after about 150 years

Also noteworthy are the fusuma-e created by 狩野宗眼重信 from the late Momoyama to the early Edo period. Works that had been divided between the British Museum and the Miyakoshi family, an old household in Nakasato, Aomori Prefecture, were identified through recent research as parts of a single series. They will be reunited for the first time in roughly 150 years.

Period	2026.07.25–10.18
Time	9:30–17:30; Fridays until 20:00 (last admission 30 minutes before closing) Closed: Mondays and Tuesday, October 13 However, open on Monday public holidays: September 21 and October 12
Location	Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum Special Exhibition Room （Ueno Park, Tokyo）
Address	〒110-0007 東京都台東区上野公園8-36
Participation Fee	General 2,300 yen／ University and vocational students 1,300 yen／ Ages 65 and over 1,600 yen ・Free for those 18 and under, and high school students and younger. ・On the third Saturday of each month and the following Sunday (Family Day), parents/guardians residing in Tokyo (up to 2 persons) accompanying children under 18 pay half the regular adult price (please present something that shows your address). Tickets are sold only at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum ticket counter. ・Holders of a Physical Disability Certificate, Ai-no Techo, Ryoiku Techo, Mental Disability Health and Welfare Certificate, or Atomic Bomb Survivor’s Health Handbook, and their caregiver (up to 1 person), are admitted free. ・Those who are 18 and under, high school students, university and vocational students, those 65 and over, and holders of the various certificates must present proof.