EVENT

Taito City Lecture & Culture

Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum 100th Anniversary Commemoration 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!
“Hyakka Ryoran—Edo Paintings Across the Seas”

Name: Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum 100th Anniversary Commemoration 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 (Tokyo, Ueno Park) Special Exhibition Gallery

At the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, the exhibition “The British Museum’s Japanese Art Collection: Hyakka Ryoran—Edo Paintings Across the Seas” is being held to commemorate the museum’s 100th anniversary. From among some 40,000 items in the Japanese collection of one of the world’s leading museums—the British Museum—this exhibition presents a carefully curated selection of masterpieces, including Edo-period paintings and ukiyo-e prints.
Works by leading ukiyo-e artists of the Edo period—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 arrive from the British Museum

From the British Museum’s Japanese collection, a refined selection of Edo-period folding screens, hanging scrolls, picture scrolls, and ukiyo-e prints will be on display. Highlights include Kitagawa Utamaro’s hand-painted work “Courtesan Reading a Letter,” Maruyama Ōkyo’s “Tiger Carrying Her Cub Across a River” folding screen, and Katsushika Hokusai’s block-ready drawings for “The Great Picture Book of Everything,” all of which you can enjoy up close.

POINT 02

Hokusai works returning from the UK for the first time

Katsushika Hokusai’s block-ready drawings for “The Great Picture Book of Everything” are returning to Japan from the United Kingdom for the first time. This exhibition presents 8 of the 103 drawings that had long been missing.

POINT 03

Sliding-door paintings reunited after about 150 years

Also noteworthy are the fusuma-e (sliding-door paintings) created by Kanō Sōgan Shigenobu from the late Momoyama to early Edo period. Works divided between the British Museum and the Miyakoshi family, an old household in Nakadomari, Aomori Prefecture, were recently identified through research as belonging to the same series, making possible a reunion after about 150 years.

Period	2026.07.25–10.18
Time	9:30–17:30; Fridays until 20:00 (last entry is 30 minutes before closing) Closed days: Mondays and Tuesday, October 13 However, open on Monday, September 21 (public holiday) and Monday, October 12 (public holiday).
Location	Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (Tokyo, Ueno Park) Special Exhibition Gallery
Address	〒110-0007 東京都台東区上野公園8-36
Participation Fee	General 2,300 yen / University and vocational school students 1,300 yen / Ages 65 and over 1,600 yen ・Free for those 18 and under and high school students or younger. ・On the third Saturday of every month and the following Sunday (Family Communication Day), guardians residing in Tokyo who accompany a child under 18 (up to two people) receive half off the regular general admission (please present proof of address). Available only at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum ticket counter. ・Holders of a Physical Disability Certificate, Ai-no-Techo, Rehabilitation Certificate, Mental Disability Health and Welfare Certificate, or Atomic Bomb Survivor’s Certificate, and their caregiver (up to one person), are admitted free. ・Those who are 18 or under, high school students, university/vocational school students, those aged 65 or over, and holders of the above certificates must present proof.