2026

January  • February • March
Japanese textile
Below is a listing of JASA-sponsored events, including webinars, in-person lectures and tours. If you like, you can print out this schedule using the print function of your browser. You may also refer to the Newsletter’s listing of JASA events. If you wish to receive reminders by E mail, please contact our Membership Coordinator.  For all regional events, we would appreciate advance notice of attendance. Please contact the Membership Coordinator.

March

Tuesday, March 3, 12 p.m. EST

Live Zoom Webinar

Staging the Samurai

In this live webinar, Dr. Rosina Buckland, Asahi Shimbun Curator in the Department of Asia at the British Museum, will discuss the major exhibition Samurai currently on view at the museum until May 4. The exhibition examines the history and myths of the samurai, from their warrior origins in the 11th century to their pervasive presence in popular culture today. As Lead Curator, Dr. Buckland has also co-authored the accompanying book for the show. In her presentation, she will describe the thinking behind the exhibition and a sampling of the exhibits, as well as explain the broader scope of an associated research project. Dr. Buckland notes that within Japan’s history, the figure of the samurai is unique in its global intelligibility, reading as both symbol of Japan and a universal icon of the virtuous and fearless warrior, ripe for appropriation. Although the term is now commonly used in English and other languages, among the general public there is little understanding of the changing historical reality of the people called samurai, or of the wide variety of ways in which the stereotype has been used over time, both in Japan and elsewhere.

Please note:  The program will start at noon EST, to accommodate our guest speaker, who is in the UK.

Click here to register for the Zoom event: Mar 3 Webinar.

Sunday, March 22; lecture at 11 a.m., annual meeting at 12 p.m. EDT

Japan Society
333 E. 47th St.
New York, NY

We Do Not Work Alone: Kawai Kanjirō and Ceramics in Modern Kyoto

Preceding our annual meeting at noon, Meghen Jones, Professor of Art History at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University will give the talk We Do Not Work Alone: Kawai Kanjirō and Ceramics in Modern Kyoto. This event requires sign-up in advance. To register, if attending in person: March 22 Annual Meeting in person registration. If attending by Zoom: March 22 Noon Annual Business Meeting via Zoom. If attending the 11 a.m. lecture via Zoom: March 22 11am Lecture by Meghen Jones.

February

Thursday, February 12, 2 p.m. EST

Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Ave.
New York, NY

The Infinite Artistry of Japanese Ceramics: An In-Person Exhibition Tour

Dr. Monika Bincsik, Diane and Arthur Abbey Curator for Japanese Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, will lead a tour of this new exhibition that she has curated in the Arts of Japan Galleries of the museum. The galleries are reopening after a four-month renovation with this new exhibition, which will be on view from January 19, 2026, to August 8, 2027 in three rotations.

The Infinite Artistry of Japanese Ceramics traces more than 13,000 years of ceramic production in Japan, from its Neolithic origins to the vibrancy of the contemporary art scene. Bringing together exceptional works shaped by centuries of cultural exchange with China, Korea and Europe, it invites visitors to explore how materials, techniques, function and meaning intersect within one of the world’s most enduring ceramic traditions. Organized across 10 thematic galleries, the presentation foregrounds broader aesthetic ideas and cultural currents that have shaped Japanese ceramics over time. It highlights the remarkable diversity of regional practices—rooted in distinct local clays, production methods and systems of patronage—that gave rise to an extraordinary range of forms, surfaces and uses, from everyday tableware to vessels created for tea masters and elite households. By placing ceramics in dialogue with other art forms, the exhibition illuminates the lasting cultural and artistic legacy of Japanese pottery from multiple perspectives.

Much of the selection is drawn from the Harry G. C. Packard Collection, presented in honor of the 50th anniversary of its landmark acquisition. Comprising more than 400 artworks—including Buddhist sculptures, paintings from the medieval period through the 19th century, and a wide range of ceramics—the Packard Collection established the foundation of the Museum’s Japanese art holdings.

The upcoming issue of the special issue of the journal Impressions,  “Harry Packard: The Infinite Artistry of Japanese Ceramics,” edited by Julia Meech, will be dedicated to this exhibition.

The deadline to sign up is February 1. Sign up in advance is required. Group size is limited to 20 members. The fee is $20 per person. Click here to register and pay by PayPal. (If you would like to pay by Zelle, the JASA Zelle account is Japanese Art Society of America and the email is jasa@japaneseartsoc.org.) Please contact Allison Tolman, Program Committee member, via email at allisontolman@gmail.com or phone 917-414-1366 with any questions.

January

Tuesday, January 13, 5 p.m. EST

Live Zoom Webinar

Lyrically Rebellious: The Prints of Onchi Kōshirō

For this live webinar, Stephen Salel, curator of Japanese Art at the Honolulu Museum of Art (HoMA) will discuss an exhibition currently on view at HoMA that commemorates the 70th anniversary of the death of Onchi Koshirō (1891–1955), the leader of the Creative Prints (sōsaku hanga) movement and one of Japan’s first abstract artists. Thanks to the generosity of Honolulu-based collectors such as James Michener (1907–1997) and Oliver Statler (1915–2002), the Honolulu Museum of Art possesses the largest public collection of prints by Onchi outside of Japan.

Stephen Salel received his MA in Art History from the University of Washington, Seattle, where he specialized in early modern Japanese painting. In addition to Lyrically Rebellious: The Prints of Onchi Kōshirō, past exhibitions include Enduring Impressions: Contemporary Woodblock Prints (August 30–December 14, 2025), which he curated in collaboration with the Portland Japanese Garden/Global Center for Culture and Art in Portland, Oregon. Salel’s recent publications include “Onchi Kōshirō: Poetic Images” in Andon: The Journal of the Society of Japanese Art (No. 119, Autumn 2025) and the catalogue for Lyrically Rebellious.

The video for this Zoom event has been posted here. 

Past JASA programs