Suntory Museum of Art
Exhibitions
Shutendōji Begins: Tales of the Demon Slayer Throughout the Ages

Shutendōji Begins: Tales of the Demon Slayer Throughout the Ages

April 29 to June 15, 2025

*Download the list of changes in works on display
*There will be an exhibition change during the course of exhibition.
*Photography is not permitted in this exhibition

Shutendōji is Japan’s most famous demon. A celebrated tale narrates how during the Heian period this demon stole the beautiful women in the capital, and how he was defeated by the warrior Minamoto no Yorimitsu and his retainers. The tale was established by the fourteenth century and eventually formed the basis for paintings and Noh plays that were widely viewed and disseminated. Particularly famous as an early example from the Muromachi period is The Tale of Shutendōji, a set of picture scrolls by the painter Kanō Motonobu in the Suntory Museum of Art (hereafter the Suntory Scrolls), designated an Important Cultural Property. The Suntory Scrolls exerted a strong influence on later examples. On this occasion, the Suntory Scrolls will be on full display after a multi-year restoration project. In addition, this exhibition will introduce two “beginnings” related to Shutendōji.
According to the tale, Shutendōji’s abode is located in one of two places—either Mount Ōe in Tanba Province or Mount Ibuki in Ōmi Province. The Suntory Scrolls are known to be the oldest example within the lineage of tales that situates the demon in Mount Ibuki. Afterwards, the Suntory Scrolls came to be thought of as the “beginning of the pictorialization” of the tale, and served as the basis for several hundred copies and related works created throughout the Edo period.
In recent years, however, picture scrolls have been discovered that bear the same content as the Suntory Scrolls, but that additionally depict the origins of Shutendōji. These showcase, in other words, Shutendōji’s origins, or the “beginning of the demon.”
This exhibition features these “beginnings”. While examining the relationship between them and painting and theater (especially Noh), it traces the previously unknown history of Shutendōji picture scrolls as well as the diversity of their development of Shutendōji picture scrolls. Through this exhibition, it is hoped that audiences will enjoy this celebrated tale of demon-slaying that Japanese have admired for centuries, and that still inspire story-telling in manga and anime today.

Works from the exhibition

Period

April 29 to June 15, 2025

*Download the list of changes in works on display
*There will be an exhibition change during the course of exhibition.
*Photography is not permitted in this exhibition

Hours

10:00-18:00　*Friday 10:00-20:00

*Open until 20:00 on May 3 to May 5, and June 14
*Last admission: 30 minutes before closing

Closed

Tuesdays

*Open until 18:00 on April 29, May 6 and June 10

Admission

Adult	General ¥1,700	Advance ¥1,500
University Student	General ¥1,200	Advance ¥1,000
High School Student	General ¥1,000	Advance ¥800

Online Ticket Sales

Elementary, junior high school students and under are free.
*With a certificate of disability, the admission fee of a disabled person and a care-giver will be waived.
*Advance tickets will be available on the website from February 15 to April 28.

Discount

◇100 Yen Discount
•For presenting a ticket to a thematic exhibition at the National Art Center, Tokyo, or Mori Art Museum
•For parties of 20 or more

*Only one discount per person

Audio Guide

¥600

Organized by

Suntory Museum of Art

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Shutendōji Begins: Tales of the Demon Slayer Throughout the Ages

SUNTORY MUSEUM of ART

About Suntory Group

About Suntory Group