Exhibition Outlines

Our museum has held several exhibitions based on themes focusing on the international goodwill carried out by the Imperial household. The rare objects given as gifts to the Imperial household from the heads of states and high officials of various foreign countries, are one of the main areas that characterize our museum’s collections. In a sense, these pieces act as symbols of their countries, and enable us to think about their different cultures by viewing them.

Because of the development of information society using methods such as the Internet, we are able to get information about foreign countries much more easily than ten or so years ago. However, the experience of actually visiting a country for the first time and come in touch with their unique cultural climates and national characters, gives us a fresh surprise and deep impression, just as the proverb, “Seeing is believing”. The impressions about the countries that we encounter through their art works may be quite different from their aspects seen through news about politics and social problems. This is because the traditional cultures and native forms of art passed down to the present, are based on the history of each country and their people’s daily lives. Encountering unknown works of art that generate simple interest towards foreign cultures, is one of the true pleasures of art appreciation widening our imaginations.

In this exhibition, we are introducing various works from around the world, focusing on especially interesting forms among those we have already introduced in the past, valuable works that will be displayed for the first time, and also works from countries that we could not exhibit before. Furthermore, the dates that these works were created range from the pre-era to the present day, and we focus on each of their historical features. Let us depart for a journey of exploring art around the world.