Upcoming Exhibitions

• Masterpieces from the Itsuo Art Museum Collection: Buson, Go Shun, and the Art of Tea

  September 16 to November 8, 2026

  The Itsuo Art Museum was founded in Ikeda city, Osaka, in 1957. "Itsuo" was the pen name of Kobayashi Ichizō (1873-1957), a giant among the entrepreneurs who built modern Japan: founder of the Hankyu Toho Group (today's Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group), which includes railroads and many other businesses. The museum's collection of 5,500 works reflects Itsuo's approach to art, his multifaceted accomplishments and enterprising personality, in a truly diverse collection that ranges from kohitsugire (old calligraphy fragments) and tea utensils to paintings by Yosa Buson and Go Shun. This long-awaited exhibition is an opportunity to view these carefully selected masterpieces together in one setting.

  

  Important Cultural Property, White Plum Blossoms, Go Shun, Right of a pair of six-panel folding screens, Edo period, 18th century, Itsuo Art Museum, Hankyu Culture Foundation

• The Art of the Lotus Sutra
  To Create Is to Pray

  December 12, 2026 to February 7, 2027

  The Lotus Sutra has long been the greatest object of faith for Japanese Buddhists of every class and gender. This sutra teaches that all human beings can achieve enlightenment and be saved from this world’s tribulations. Faith in the Lotus Sutra has inspired a rich variety of works of art, from centuries ago to the present. This exhibition introduces lavishly decorated sutras, statues of the Buddha, Buddhist paintings, and other works associated with the Lotus Sutra, offering an opportunity to better understand the interconnections of that faith and its spread in Japan.

  

  Important Cultural Property, Lion (Manjushri’s Pedestal) and Elephant (Samantabhadra’s Pedestal), Kamakura period, 12th-13th century, Suntory Museum of Art, Photo: Kyosuke Sasaki