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- Feature Exhibition Serpentine Delights: Celebrating the Year of the Snake
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General Information
- Exhibition Title
-
Feature Exhibition
Serpentine Delights: Celebrating the Year of the Snake
- Period
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January 2–February 2, 2025
- Venue
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Heisei Chishinkan Wing, Gallery 1F-2
- Closed
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Mondays
*The museum will be open on Monday, January 13, and closed on Tuesday, January 14, 2025.
- Museum Hours
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9:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m. (Entrance until 4:30 p.m.)
Open until 8:00 p.m. on Fridays (Entrance until 7:30 p.m.)
- Admission
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Adult 700 yen University Student
(ID required)350 yen - Admission fee includes admission to all galleries in the Heisei Chishinkan Wing.
- Admission is free for high school students and other youths age 0 – 17, seniors over 70, visitors with disabilities and one caretaker, and for Campus Members (including faculty). Please show ID.
- Admission for school groups: Admission to the Collection Galleries is free for elementary school, middle school, and high school students on school fieldtrips as well as teachers serving as their guides.
Description of Exhibition
2025 marks the Year of the Snake in the Chinese zodiac. How do you feel about snakes? Are they cute, mysterious, or perhaps a little creepy?
Throughout history, people have been both fascinated and frightened by these long-bodied creatures. In many cultures, snakes have been seen as deities of water and symbols of abundance, believed to possess special powers.
As you explore this New Year’s exhibition, please feel free to take a worksheet and enjoy discovering the many types of snakes slithering throughout the galleries!
Long, long ago
Snakes have been depicted since ancient times, even before the invention of writing. Can you imagine what these snakes might have represented?
Deep Vessel with Perforated Rim
Excavation site unknown
Kyoto National Museum
Scary Snakes
Snakes eat their prey whole, and many are even poisonous. Why did people of the past depict or wear things with motifs of such creepy creatures?
Textile with Lions, Snakes, and Flowering Plants
Kyoto National Museum
Mysterious Snakes
These strange snakes, which appear in dreams or stories, are a little different from real snakes. What were people of the past trying to communicate by depicting snakes?
Important Cultural Property
The Poetry Contest of the Twelve Zodiac Animals, Vol. 1
Buddhist Deities and Snakes
In India, the birthplace of Buddhism, scary snakes such as poisonous cobras were common. Snakes in Buddhist art have been depicted sometimes as adversaries, and at other times as allies. What kind of snakes are these?
Important Cultural Property
The Five Hundred Arhats, No. 17
By Kissan Minchō
Tōfuku-ji Temple, Kyoto
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