On November 11, 2025, Dr. Andreas Marks, Mary Griggs Burke Curator of Japanese and Korean Art at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, provided an overview of Japanese illustrated books in premodern times. Storytelling has always played an important role in Japanese visual arts. Over a thousand years ago, painted hand scrolls began to appear in Japan that enhanced text with pictures. This tradition of interplay between word and image continued in the form of illustrated books and remains active today in modern manga comics. This talk coincided with the release of Dr. Marks’ latest book, Japan’s Manga Revolution: From Painted Scrolls to Comic Books. Covering subjects from poetry to celebrated beauties, famous kabuki actors to adventure tales, this survey ends with the birth of political cartoons in Japan in the early 20th century.