Maruyama Okyo and Ito Jakuchu

Before you go

A special exhibition at the Shokoku-ji Jotenkaku Museum pairing the two giants of 18th-century Kyoto painting: Maruyama Okyo, founder of the realist Maruyama school, and Ito Jakuchu, the eccentric master of intense color. Phase I runs 17 October 2026 to 14 February 2027. The museum itself is part of Shokoku-ji, one of Kyoto's great Zen temples, and holds five national treasures and 145 important cultural properties.

Maruyama Okyo founded the Maruyama school on a radical idea for its time: paint from direct observation of nature. Ito Jakuchu, his contemporary, went the opposite way — obsessive, jewel-like color in works like the famed Colorful Realm of Living Beings. Together they defined 18th-century Kyoto painting. Their works survive here because Shokoku-ji, founded in 1392 by the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu as the second-ranked temple of the Kyoto Gozan, has been a centre of Zen culture for over 600 years, producing the ink-painting masters who set the norms of Japanese painting.

• Okyo's Shichinan Shichifuku handscroll — the early masterpiece depicting human suffering and happiness with startling vividness
• Okyo's Botan Kujaku-zu (Peonies and Peacock) and Daibakufu-zu (Great Waterfall) — realism pushed to the extreme
• Jakuchu's Daishoin barrier paintings — monochrome ink work using the 'sujimegaki' technique, where bleeding ink creates three-dimensional form; roosters and pines leaping out of black and white
• The museum building itself, set within the Shokoku-ji Zen complex — remember to remove your shoes

Getting there

Inside Shokoku-ji temple, Kamigyo Ward: exit 3 of Imadegawa Station on the Karasuma subway line, then a short walk east along Imadegawa-dori.

Booking

No reservation needed; buy at the door. Admission: 1,000 yen adults, 800 yen university and high school students, 500 yen junior high, free for elementary school children with a guardian. Groups of 20+ get a small discount.

Crowds

A temple museum, not a blockbuster venue — expect a calm visit even on weekends. The 10:00 opening is the quietest time.

Good for

Lovers of Japanese art, travellers who like quiet museums, first-time visitors who want one strong painting exhibition. Good with children old enough to walk a museum quietly (elementary free).

How it differs

The Kyoto National Museum is the heavyweight — national collection, big special exhibitions, bigger crowds. The Museum of Modern Art Kyoto (MOMAK) does modern and contemporary. Jotenkaku is different: a temple museum inside a 600-year-old Zen complex, intimate in scale, and this show's specific pairing is its argument — Okyo's cool realism against Jakuchu's exuberant color, the two poles of Edo Kyoto painting in one visit. At 1,000 yen it is also the cheapest serious art ticket in the city. Choose it if you want Japanese painting specifically and a quiet, contemplative visit; choose the National Museum if you want breadth.

Sources Shokoku-ji Jotenkaku Museum official page