Exhibition Outlines

In Japan, stories have been illustrated and mounted into scrolls to enjoy them, and illustrated scrolls have been created as artworks since the middle of the Heian period, around the late 10th century. At an early stage, when literature of the Heian period was formed and developed, illustrated scrolls were created with aristocratic themes. Gradually along with the rise of the samurai class, scrolls illustrating military history, and scrolls for the propagation of the Buddhist faith were created, to entertain a wide range of social strata. Just how the contents of the story is picturized and evolved depends on the expressions of the painter's images. Viewers can look at these illustrated images and enjoy the scrolls expanding their own images. Being able to enjoy these rich images is probably why illustrated scrolls have been familiar to so many people for such a long time.

In this exhibition, we will introduce the Story of a Painter (Kamakura period), which depicts the actual life of a painter, the Illustrated Scrolls of the Tale of Sumiyoshi (Muromachi period), which is a Japanese version of Cinderella, where the heroine grasps happiness in spite of being bullied by her stepmother, and the Okuri ? Illustrated Scrolls of Oguri Hangan (Edo period) , which is the popular sekkyo-bushi (sermon ballads) where a man and woman of curious fate overcome hardships. Also introduced are the Illustrated Scrolls of Shutendoji the Ogre (Edo period) about the well-known legend of ogre extermination at Mt.Oe, the Illustrated Scrolls of Prince Hikohohodemi-no-mikoto (Edo period), depicting the myths about Umisachihiko and Yamasachihiko in Kojiki (The Records of Ancient Matters) and Nihonshoki (Chronicles of Japan) , and the Illustrated Scroll of Yun Yan (Jakuran) (Ming Dynasty) about Su Hui (Yun Yan) of the mid-4th century in China, which illustrates the legend of the 840 characters palindrome poem that she sent to her husband.

We hope our visitors will enjoy the prolific images emerging from each of these illustrated scrolls.