Special Exhibition ‘Kan’ei: Beauty Nurtured by Peace’ — 400th Anniversary of the Kan’ei Imperial Visit

Before you go

The Kan'ei imperial visit was a major event of 1626: the retired shogun Tokugawa Hidetada and the shogun Iemitsu hosted Emperor Go-Mizunoo at Nijo Castle for five days of the most lavish hospitality imaginable — room decorations, cuisine, bugaku dance, noh, poetry. Eleven years after the fall of the Toyotomi at Osaka, it was a symbolic ritual of reconciliation between court and shogunate. The same era produced artists like Hon'ami Koetsu, Tawaraya Sotatsu and Nonomura Ninsei: 'Kan'ei culture'. The exhibition presents the finest of early-Edo Kyoto culture around these two axes.

From 6 to 10 September 1626, Hidetada and Iemitsu entertained the emperor at the newly expanded Nijo Castle in five days of splendour. The show has three chapters: a prologue from Sekigahara to the 'Genna peace'; Chapter 1, 'Chrysanthemum and Hollyhock', on court–shogunate relations; Chapter 2, decoding the visit itself, including the sliding-door paintings of the Ninomaru Palace; Chapter 3, on what followed — Go-Mizunoo, after abdicating, became a cultural figure in his own right, accomplished in Chinese and Japanese poetry, calligraphy, flower arrangement and tea. Organised by Kyoto Prefecture, the Museum of Kyoto and the Yomiuri Shimbun, with support from NHK Kyoto and the Kyoto City Tourism Association among others.

• Celebrated swords: the Important Cultural Property katana Mumei Sadamune (Meibutsu Futatsubi Sadamune), on view from 17 October; Touken Ranbu collaboration with life-size character panels for photos
• Kano-school sliding-door paintings from Nijo Castle: Pine and Hawk in the Grand Hall and Bamboo Grove with Tigers, both Important Cultural Properties
• Hon'ami Koetsu's Black Raku tea bowl Meibutsu Murakumo and his inlaid sutra box
• The Kan'ei Imperial Visit handscroll, a painted record of the procession

Getting there

The Museum of Kyoto, Takakura-dori Sanjo-agaru, Nakagyo-ku. Karasuma-Oike Station on the Kyoto municipal subway.

Booking

No reservation needed. Same-day tickets only during the run (advance sales ended 18 September). General ¥1,800, university/high-school students ¥1,200, younger students ¥600; the ticket also covers the 2nd-floor general exhibition and the 3rd-floor film theatre.

Crowds

Open till 19:30 on Fridays; free curator talks at 18:30 on 16 October and 13 November.

Good for

History buffs, fans of Japanese swords and art, Touken Ranbu players, and anyone wanting a systematic introduction to early-Edo Kyoto.

How it differs

The Sen-oku Hakuko Kan museum is holding a companion 400th-anniversary show, 'The Kan'ei Imperial Visit and the People of Culture in the Flower Capital' — a two-museum set ticket was on sale. Judging by the titles, theirs takes the 'people' angle while this one takes the 'culture' angle. Against the Ryokan show also on in Kyoto: one is a grand historical-political narrative of swords and screens, the other the quiet calligraphic world of a single Zen monk; see both if you have time.

Sources Museum of Kyoto — official exhibition page