Past Exhibitions

Paradise of Birds and Flowers
February 23, 2016 - March 21, 2016

Historically, Japanese people have looked upon landscapes containing blooming flowers and singing birds as embodying the great cycle of rebirth and the seasons, representing a "promised land" of sorts. The bird-and-flower painting genre is generally seen as having flourished in Japan from the Muromachi Period (1336-1573) onward, but the Japanese people's appreciation of nature and the changing seasons is already evident as early as the eighth-century Man'yōshū poetry anthology.

The works exhibited here are among the very finest created over the long history and extensive production of bird-and-flower paintings. While these works carry various literary associations or reflect scientific interest in their subjects, we are sure you will agree they are so beautiful as to render such "meaning" practically meaningless.

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A Message to Museum Visitors

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