JASA is pleased to provide this monthly list of selected Japanese art–related events, activities and exhibition openings from our Impressions advertisers and from museums and galleries across the country. If you wish to add an item for a future Calendar, please contact JASA Japanese Art Calendar. Important notice: By clicking on the links below, you are leaving the JASA website. JASA is not responsible for, nor do we endorse, the content on any linked external sites.

September 2026

Lectures and Events

September 1, 7–8:30 p.m. PT

Join curators Hollis Goodall and Kaoru Kuribayashi as they discuss their respective exhibitions at American Museum of Ceramic Art and The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles, during a special online conversation. More information here. Register for Zoom URL here

September 10, 5 p.m. EDT

With the support of Sebastian Izzard, JASA is launching an annual lecture series on Ukiyo-e to be held every September. Matthew McKelway, Takeo and Itsuko Atsumi Associate Professor of Japanese Art History at Columbia University, will present the inaugural lecture Hishikawa Moronobu’s Floating World, at The Japan Society, 333 E. 47th St., New York, NY. Hishikawa Moronobu (1618–1694) is often credited as the founder, or first artist to popularize Ukiyo-e, and his most eloquent depictions are of the courtesans of the Yoshiwara and their world. The lecture will focus on recently discovered handscrolls featuring Yoshiwara, theaters and the pleasurable activities of Edo. There is no charge for the lecture, which will also be accessible by Zoom, but all attendees must register by following the links below. Space is limited and is on a first come, first served basis. Click here to register for the in-person event at the Japan Society: September 10 Ukiyo-e Lecture. Click here to register for the Zoom link: September 10 Ukiyo-e ZOOM.

September 17, 6:30 p.m. EDT

The Japan Information and Culture Center (JICC), Embassy of Japan, Washington, D.C. invites the public to the lecture “Why Japan Still Needs Ghosts” by Professor Michael Cronin of the College of William and Mary. The talk will explore how Japan’s yokai, ghosts and supernatural tales have evolved from Edo-period legends to contemporary anime, film and modern ghost stories. The lecture is presented in conjunction with The Japan Foundation exhibition Yokai Parade: Supernatural Monsters from Japan on view at the JICC until September 18. For more information and to register, click here.

Museum and Gallery Exhibitions

Ongoing

The Philadelphia Museum of Art has opened Japan at the World’s Fairs to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial, and the inception of the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Japanese collection. The exhibition features Japanese objects from the museum’s collection that were either exhibited at one of the previous world’s fairs, (1867 Paris; 1873 Vienna; 1893 Chicago; and 1904 St. Louis), or are close examples of items that were on exhibit. For more information, click here.

September 1–13

The Sainsbury Center, in Norwich, UK, focuses on women in Japanese crafts with the photography exhibition, Making Tokyo’s Craftswomen Visible: Traditional Techniques in Motion, at The Old Piano Shop Gallery in Norwich, followed by a full day workshop on September 4, in person at the Sainsbury Institute, and streamed online via zoom. To Register, contact: sisjac@sainsbury-institute.org . Zoom registration available here. Full program available here.

The Japanese galleries at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston are temporarily closed for expansion and will reopen next year with about 50% more floor space, including a new gallery for modern and contemporary Japanese art. In the meantime, two special shows will be on view:

September 6, 2026–May 16, 2027

Naoko Matsubara’s Woodblock Worlds focuses on specific locations that have been transformative for her practice over seven decades—Kyoto, Boston, Toronto and Tibet. Born in 1937 and raised in Japan, Matsubara is now regarded as a Japanese-Canadian artist, renowned for woodcut prints in black and white as well as joyful colors.

October 24, 2026–July 19, 2027

In 1965, Japanese photographer Kawada Kikuji (b. 1933) published Chizu (The Map), a photobook that defies clear narratives or explanations. The exhibition Kawada Kikuji: Chizu (The Map) explores the full scope of Chizu through the MFA’s extensive archive of images, negatives, notes, contact sheets, and an original copy of the book—all acquired directly from the photographer in 2022.

September 9–September 17

Carole Davenport has organized Mingei/Japanese Folk Art for a show at Tambaran 2 Gallery, (12–6 p.m.). Mostly Edo period daily use articles for food and ritual performances as well as shop signs, doorway curtains, and tokonoma display items will be on view.

September 10–October

Joan B Mirviss Ltd. opens Patina of Time: The Clay Art of Iguchi Daisuke. A native of Tochigi Prefecture in northeastern Japan, Iguchi Daisuke (b. 1975) has inherited the legacy of two of the region’s most renowned ceramic masters, Kamoda Shōji (1933–1983) and Wada Morihiro (1944–2008). This show of new works features intricate linear surface patterns that undulate in perfect harmony with their gently curving and lobed forms. For more information, click here.

September 10–24

For Asia Week, Dai Ichi Gallery features Kiyomizu Rokubey: 250 Years of Ceramic Expression from Kyoto, an exhibition of Kiyomizu Rokubey family works that trace a lineage of innovation and experimentation. The current eighth generation artist, Kiyomizu Rokubey Masahiro, whose architecturally conceived forms in deep black glazes warp and shift under gravity and heat, will be present for the September 10 reception. For more information, click here.

September 10–30

In celebration of its 20th anniversary, Onishi Gallery presents Across the Sea: Onishi Gallery with Homo Faber, an exhibition of 10 artists, four of whom will be participating in the 2026 Venice Homo Faber on San Giorgio Maggiore Island this September. Homo Faber—man the maker—is a biennial exhibition of unique works of art in diverse media on view in Venice from September 1—30. The Onishi Gallery exhibitionpursues its mission to promote kogei (Japanese traditional artisan crafts) with artists who work in ceramics, metal and lacquer in New York and abroad.

September 10–October 3

Rediscovered Treasures: The Leòn Chattah Collection of Modern Japanese Prints, an exhibition of 70 works by 20th-century masters of Shin Hanga are part of a collection of the late psychiatrist/collector that were recently found tucked away in a closet. Scholten Japanese Arts has made them available now with an online exhibition, and viewing in person at their gallery September 10–18, 11 a.m. –5 p.m., appointments preferred, and by appointment through October 3. For more information click here.

September 10–18

Erik Thomsen will hold two exhibitions at his gallery:

September 10–18

An Asia Week he display includes 17th-century screens, hanging scrolls from the Taisho and Showa era, and contemporary baskets and bronzes. For more information, click here.

September 24–October

That show is followed by Spirituality in Japanese Art in collaboration with the Foundation for Spirituality in the Arts (FSA). For more information click here.

September 12–October 18

Healing with Gold: The Art of Kintsugi in Ceramics and Beyond, an exhibition at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, Los Angeles, features more than 30 contemporary artworks alongside traditional kintsugi ceramics, exploring how the centuries-old Japanese practice of repairing broken ceramics with lacquer dusted in gold has evolved from a tea ceremony tradition into a global artistic philosophy. For more information, click here.

Opens September 14

The Nippon Club has organized a special memorial exhibition to honor the late Susan Tosk, founder of Orientations Gallery. Meiji Masterworks-Keen Vision: Legacy of Susan Tosk will open with works loaned by private collectors to express appreciation of Susan’s contribution to the study of Japanese art. Viewing is free at the Nippon Club’s new facility, 604 Fifth Avenue, 5th floor, New York.

Opens September 14

The on-line gallery, CollectingJapanesePrints.com, opens its fall exhibition, Two Puffs & A Sip: The Moga and the City on September 14. Bringing together more than 170 works, this ambitious exhibition explores the emergence of the moga—the “modern girl”—alongside evocative images of Tokyo as it rose anew following the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923. Through woodblock prints, paintings and period ephemera, the exhibition traces a world of changing fashions, new freedoms, and urban spectacle.

September 17, 2026–January 17, 2027

The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach, Florida, presents Clifton Karhu: An American in Kyoto, an exhibition of works—woodblock prints, ceramics and stone works—by an artist who fell in love with Japan while serving in the military. Karhu (1927–2007), a native of Duluth, Minnesota, began his post-military art career in Japan, and moved to Kyoto in 1963 where he lived like a Japanese, wearing kimono everyday.

September 20, 2026–March 7, 2027

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art presents Textile Alchemy: The Art of Reiko Sudō & Nuno, an in-depth survey that traces the work of Sudō and the textile collective NUNO, that has transformed Japanese textile design through experimentation with traditional and contemporary materials and techniques. Their innovative processes were often created in collaboration with independent artisans and workshops across Japan. The exhibition features over 100 limited edition textiles, together with drawings, sketches, raw materials, tools, mock-ups and prototypes. For more information, click here.

Opens October 2

The late Dr. Kurt Gitter planned Second Nature: Japanese Rinpa Paintings from the Gitter-Yelen Collection with Harvard professor Yukio Lippet during his final years. The exhibition will open at the New Orleans Museum of Art with nearly 60 works that offer new insights and perspectives into Rinpa painting, especially the role of artist Sakai Hōitsu in defining the Rinpa style from its disparate progenitors. For more information, click here. The opening weekend will also include a one-day symposium on October 3. For details, click here.

Mid-October

The 69th Annual College Women’s Association of Japan Print Show will be held mid-October in Tokyo, but their catalog will be available starting September 1, with sales commencing prior to the opening of the show. More information about the show will be available in our JASA October Calendar.

Ongoing Exhibitions

Until September 7

The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto continues Shokkan: Material Encounters in Japanese Art. For more information, click here.

Until September 13

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art exhibition Deep Cuts: Block Across Cultures explores block printing across cultures from the eighth century in Asia, Europe and North America. For more information, click here.

Until December 6

At the Cleveland Museum of Art, Sinéad Vilbar has installed a new rotation of paintings called Bunjin in Japanese Art, which focuses on artists of the Edo period referred to as “literati,”who embraced a lifestyle centered on an appreciation of learning and literature. For more information, click here.

Until September 13

Noguchi Museum, New York, presents Noguchi’s New York, an exhibition of the artist’s project models, photographs and archival materials. For more information, click here.

Until September 19

Kinetic Stillness: Sculptural Ceramics continues at the Japan Foundation, Los Angeles.

Until September 27

Into the Waters: Senju and Bingyi: Two Contemporary Paintings remains on view at the National Museum of Asian Art in Washington.

Until November 20

The Portland Art Museum continues Makers: The Culture of Craft (for more information click here) and Word in Flower: Arts of Buddhism (for more information, click here).

Until January 3, 2027

Sound of Water: Feminine Expressions of Fluidity at the Sturt Haaga Gallery at Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge, California, features the work of six female Japanese artists—Emiko Aida, Miya Ando, Yumiko Glover, Mineko Grimmer, Yuko Kimura and Ayomi Yoshida. For more information, click here.

Until January 3, 2027

The American Museum of Ceramic Art in East LA (Pomona) presents Tōgei: Contemporary Japanese Ceramics.For more information, Click here.

Until January 3, 2027

The Princeton University Art Museum is presenting Takeda Hideo’s Genpei: Defying Authority, featuring 22 screenprints by Japanese satirical cartoonist Takeda Hideo (b. 1948), which boldly re-envision the 12th-century Genpei civil war to challenge outdated samurai myths and social norms. For more information, click here.

Until April 30, 2027

The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A South Kensington) presents Urushi Now: Contemporary Japanese Lacquer, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Toshiba Gallery of Japanese Art, the first major gallery of Japanese art in the UK. For more information click here.

Until July 12, 2027

At the Seattle Art Museum, the exhibition Ash-Glazed Ceramics from Korea and Japan is on view.

Until August 8, 2027 (in three rotations)

The Japanese Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art continues The Infinite Artistry of Japanese Ceramics, which traces ceramic production in Japan from its Neolithic origins to the vibrant contemporary art scene, curated by Monika Bincsik, Diane and Arthur Abbey Curator for Japanese Decorative Art. To accompany the exhibition, Impressions editor Julia Meech has produced a special issue of the journal featuring essays on Japanese ceramics and the Harry Packard collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has been sent to members and subscribers.

Past Events and Exhibitions

July 2026

Lectures and Events

July 1, 5 p.m. EDT

In the Flesh: The Nude in Modern Japanese Art—on view at the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida, until August 23—is the subject of a JASA zoom Webinar with Dr. Rhiannon Paget, Curator of Asian art at the Ringling. Dr. Paget will introduce the exhibition featuring prints from the 1910s to 1970s and one arresting painting by Ishikawa Toraji (1875-1964), and discuss how the nude emerged as a provocative and transformative subject in Japanese art from the late nineteenth century through the postwar period. To register for the Zoom webinar, click here.

July 3, 5 p.m.; July 4, 11:30 p.m.; July 5 , 10:30 a.m. PDT

During the Fourth of July weekend, Japan House, Los Angeles, invites audiences to explore the art of manga creation in special hands-on workshops led by acclaimed manga artist and educator Kazuo Maekawa. Best known for his work on the internationally recognized “Ace Attorney” series, Maekawa will introduce participants to the fundamentals of manga storytelling, from character design to pacing and visual expression. No prior drawing experience is required. For more information, click here.

July 4

A workshop on Edo Art in German Research and Collections will be held at the Institute of East Asian Art History, University of Heidelberg. This workshop is geared toward students, novices to East Asian art in German collections, and the public. Three experts, Dr. Annegret Bergmann, Dr. Kevin Schumacher-Shoji and Dr. Wibke Schrape will talk about their experiences, the collections they work on, and Japanese art historical research in Germany. Cats Auditorium, HS 05, Seminar Building. For more information, click here.

July 30 , 6:30 p.m. EDT

In Washington, D.C., join the JICC, Embassy of Japan, in partnership with Villa Albertine, Embassy of France, for a talk on Japanese Western-style painting with Dr. Helen Swift. Her talk, Impressions: Artistic Encounters between Japan and France, will explore how Japanese artists sought inspiration in Paris and introduced a new wave of Western-style painting to Japan at the turn of the 20th century. For more information and to register, click here,

Museum and Gallery Exhibitions

Until August 8

Ippodo Gallery is presenting Summer Symphony: Work from Ippodo Gallery’s Archive, beloved favorites and never-before-seen works spanning ceramic, painting, metal, calligraphy, photography, and glass. Celebrating the diversity of kogei (Japanese fine art craft) across generations and artistic practices, the exhibition evokes the full sensory range of summer: vibrancy and stillness, light and reflection. In mid-July, a rotation will feature new works. For more information, click here.

July 7–August 28

Joan B Mirviss Ltd. presents Colored by Flame: The Artistry of Katō Ryōtarō, the artist’s first solo show in the United States. Born as an eighth generation descendant of ceramic artists from the Mino region, Katō Ryōtarō (b. 1974) turned away from the Persian glaze and lusterware techniques of his father and grandfather, and returned to their historical roots, the ash-based glazes and wood-fired kiln techniques of the Mino region. The show includes more than 20 new works featuring six of Katō’s distinctive glazing styles. For more information, click here.

July 8–August 6

Ronin Gallery and Globus Washitsu, who frequently collaborate on events, are pleased to announce contemporary Japanese textile artist Toru Ishii (b. 1981) as the 2026 Ronin | Globus Artist-in-Residence and Ishii’s solo exhibition, Tokyo Landscape. Ishii works in yuzen, a traditional Japanese resist-dyeing technique, using its precision, color and labor-intensive process to depict Tokyo’s streets and electric atmosphere.

New and Noteworthy

Opening in October

Followers of Buddhist art may look forward to an international exhibition devoted to the Ten Kings of Hell: The Afterlife in Medieval Korea at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Organized in partnership with the National Museum of Korea, the exhibit explores the artistic legacy of the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) with many important loans, including a Song-dynasty set of the Kings of Hell from the Nara National Museum. A group of thematically-related contemporary works are also included.

June 2026

Lectures and Events

Tuesday, June 2, 5 p.m.. EDT

The exhibition Bunmei Kaika: Political Landscape in Early Modern and Modern Japan runs through June 7 at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie. It explores the impact of the late Edo—and Meiji— period political climate on culture, thought, and the dissemination of prints in Japan. Join us for a live webinar on June 2 with Chelsea Foxwell, Professor of Art History, University of Chicago, in conversation with the exhibition’s curator, Monique D’Almeida, Deknatel Curatorial Fellow in Japanese works on Paper, will examine how the drastic shift in Japan’s national identity during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was reflected and disseminated in prints during this time of expansion and modernization. Click here to register for the Zoom event: June 2 Webinar.

Tuesday, June 2, 7–8:30 p.m. PDT

The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles, presents an online lecture featuring Seikichi Izumi X, a lacquer brush artisan whose lineage dates to the 17th century. He is the sole Inheritor of 370 years of Edo-period techniques that use human hair as the primary material, passed down through oral tradition from generation to generation. The talk will explore the essential role of brushes designed specifically for lacquer application, and the importance of tools in traditional craftsmanship. Free admission, but registration required. For more information, click here.

Museum and Gallery Exhibitions

Until June 26

Japanese Ceramics and Modern Paintings will be on view at the Thomsen Gallery (8 East 67th Street) in New York.

Ongoing Exhibitions

June 2—27

Onishi Gallery (16 E. 79th Street, New York) presents Waves of Resilience, a selection of luxury lacquer ware designed by New York-based designer Melissa Bowers, in collaboration with Senshudo, a lacquer company in Wajima, Ishikawa prefecture. As a charitable project for the city of Wajima, which was featured in a January 16, 2026, New York Times article, Waves of Resilience supports recovery efforts for many artists affected by the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that devastated the city on New Year’s Day, 2024. For more information, visit the gallery web page about the project: Waves of Resilience Viewing Room.

Until June 6

The exhibition Shimijimi: Dyed and Inlaid Textiles by Shigeki Fukumoto is in its last weeks at Ippodo Gallery in TriBeCa, New York. For more information, click here.

Until June 26

Architect of the Bizen Renaissance: Mori Tōgaku, the first solo exhibition and retrospective outside of Japan, features 23 works of remarkable artistic diversity that span the master’s career. On view at Joan B Mirviss Ltd (39 East 78th Street, New York).

New and Noteworthy

September 20, 2026—March 7, 2027

Upcoming in Los Angeles, Textile Alchemy: The Art of Reiko Sudō and Nuno at Los Angeles County Museum of Art will provide an in-depth survey of this acclaimed designer’s work with her textile collective NUNO. For more information, click here. This exhibition and the ceramic exhibition at the American Museum of Ceramic Art noted above are being discussed as destinations for a possible JASA trip for members in the fall. More information to come.

January 9—November 13, 2027

The Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, will present the first major exhibition of its Asian art collection. Asian Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum will showcase significant objects that span media, time periods, and geography, namely East, South, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayas, focusing on works created before 1950.

May 2026

Lectures and Events

Monday, May 4, 6:30 p.m. EDT; May 20, 7–8:30 p.m. EDT

In conjunction with the exhibition Shokkan: Material Encounters in Japanese Art, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), Toronto, has two programs in May. On May 4, Almost Human—Robo Sapiens Japonicus, features Dr. Jennifer Robertson and Dr. Akiko Takesue who will examine robots, sensory perception and the evolving relationship between humans and machines in post-industrial Japan. This ticketed event is at 6:30 p.m. A second talk on May 20 brings Professor Kojiro Hirose of the National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, to ROM to speak on A Universal Museum: Learning through Touch in Public Spaces. Admission is Free. Both talks will be recorded. For more information, click here.

Wednesday, May 6, 7–8:45 p.m. PDT

The film Carving the Divine: Buddhist Sculptors of Japan will be shown at the Japan Foundation, Los Angeles. For more information and to register, click here.

Thursday, May 7, 5 p.m. EDT

Join us online for a live Zoom webinar with Dr. Janice Katz, Roger L. Weston Curator of Japanese Art at the Art Institute of Chicago, who will discuss her new exhibition Emerging from Darkness: Prints by Hamanishi Katsunori, on view until June 22. Over his long and distinguished career, Hamanishi (born 1949) has focused on the production of mezzotint prints. This exhibition celebrates Hamanishi’s gift of his landmark Four Seasons prints to the Art Institute. Click here to register for the Zoom event: May 7 Webinar.

Thursday, May 7, 7 p.m. EDT

The Japan Society, New York, documented the preparation of their current exhibition on the potter Kawai Kanjirō with a film. A screening of Kawai Kanjirō: House to House Documentary Premiere — Japan Society, followed by a panel discussion in the Japan Society Auditorium. For more information, click here.

Friday, May 8, 7 p.m. EDT

At the Morikami Museum in Delray Beach, Florida, noted author Zack Davisson will speak on A Brief History of Yōkai. The event is ticketed with a discount for members. For more information, click here.

Saturday, May 9, 2–3:30 p.m. PDT

At the Seattle Art Museum, Sherry Fowler, Professor of Japanese Art History at the University of Kansas, will present the talk Why Get a Japanese Dragon Tattoo? An Enduring Image of Cross-Cultural Exchange, which explores dragon imagery alongside the history of tattooing in Japan with its synergistic relationship to Edo period (1615–868) print culture and its long-standing associations with outsider identities. For more information, click here.

Wednesday, May 20, 7–8:30 p.m. PDT

The Beauty of Japanese Sculpture: Modern and Contemporary is the final session of a six-part lecture series on Japanese sculpture presented at the Japan Foundation, Los Angeles. The focus is on a small but significant production of sculptures using of traditional techniques. For more information and to register, click here.

Wednesday, May 27, 7–8:30 p.m. PDT

Also, The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles, in conjunction with Koyasan Beikoku Betsuin, invites the public to a workshop on the devotional practice of Shabutsu: Tracing the Forms of the Buddha, at 5700 Wilshire Bvld. This practice shares the same spirit as carving Buddhist statues. For more information, and to register, click here.

Museum and Gallery Exhibitions

May 7–June 26

In conjunction with Shibuya Kurodatoen Co. Ltd., Joan B Mirviss presents Architect of the Bizen Renaissance: Mori Tōgaku. While Mori Tōgaku’s (b. 1937) name has become synonymous in Japan with contemporary Bizen ceramics, this exhibition is the artist’s first solo show and retrospective outside of Japan. With the 23 works on view that span the artist’s career, one can experience the remarkable aesthetic diversity that this master ceramist has been able to achieve within the Bizen tradition.For more information, click here.

May 23–September 20

The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens opens two exhibitions featuring Japanese art. Yōkai: Scenes of the Supernatural in Japanese Woodblock Prints features loans from Scripps College in Claremont, California; and Threads of Silver and Gold: The Allure of the Japanese Wedding Kimono,draws on works from the museum’s collection. May 23 – September 20. For the history buff, Courage and Compassion:The Japanese American World War II Experience, an exhibit from the Go For Broke National Education Center in Los Angeles, is also on view May 9-August 30.

May 21–June 4

With Shaping Clay: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan, Dai Ichi Arts builds on Radical Clay, the traveling exhibit of women artists in the Horvitz Collection, by featuring works by celebrated and emerging female ceramic artists who present many different styles and approaches. For more information click here.

May 23–September 20

May 9-August 30

For the history buff, Courage and Compassion:The Japanese American World War II Experience, an exhibit from the Go For Broke National Education Center in Los Angeles, is also on view at Morikami.

Until May 26

Nara to Now continues at Carole Davenport, with a new rotation including a Nara period ceramic jar and Noh masks. Call 646-249-8500 for an appointment.

Until June 6

Ippodo Gallery in Tribeca presents Shimijimi: Dyed and Inlaid Textiles by Shigeki Fukumoto (b. 1946), a debut solo exhibition by a master textile dyer from Kyoto. More than 20 two-dimensional works and folding screens exhibit Fukumoto’s unique processes in wax resist and color inlay. For more information, click here.

Until June 26

Ronin Gallery opens Yoshitoshi: An Eccentric Genius on May 5, presenting a focused selection of masterworks drawn from three of his important series: One Hundred Views of the Moon, Thirty-two Aspects of Women, and New Forms of Thirty-six Ghosts, which together reveal Yoshitoshi’s extraordinary psychological intensity and technical brilliance.

New and Noteworthy

Brush as Sword: The Samurai influence in Ōtagaki Rengetsu, a video narrated by Tusha Buntin and available through this link, looks at Ōtagaki Rengetsu’s artwork. Inspired by the groundbreaking exhibition The Lotus Moon: Art and Poetry of the Buddhist Nun Ōtagaki Rengetsu by John Stevens—which was mounted in Barcelona, Spain, in 2020, the exhibition introduced the Naej Collection of Rengetsu calligraphy, paintings and pottery.

Ongoing Exhibits

Until May 24, 2026

The Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College continues Shining Prints: The Tale of Genji Reimagined in Japan

Until June 28, 2026

The Spencer Museum at the University of Kansas has originated an exhibition exploring the life and art of a Japanese American artist who experienced, and recorded, a life of displacement, resilience, collaboration and creativity. Street Nihonga: The Art of Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani (1920–2012) includes painting, drawing, collage and mixed media works created between the 1980’s and 2001 as a survival strategy when he worked on the sidewalks of New York. For more information, click here.

Until July 5, 2026

The Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida, is initiating a commitment to Japanese art with That’s Entertainment: Japanese Prints and the Art of Leisure, featuring a display of prints by Utagawa Kunisada (1786–1864) and other leading artists focused on portraits of celebrated Kabuki actors in productions staged in Edo in the 19th century. Complementing the prints is a video installation re-imagining a classic Kabuki love tragedy, Shinju Trail (2018) by acclaimed video artist Tabaimo (Ayako Tabata, b. 1975). For more information, click here.

Until July 2, 2026

The new Princeton University Art Museum celebrates the work of former Princeton professor Toshiko Takaesu, the ceramicist whose works are abstract paintings in the round. For more information, click here.

April 2026

Lectures and Events

Friday, April 3

A hybrid, one-day symposium on Dream Balloons in China and Japan will be held at the Collège de France in Paris. This symposium aims to study the speech balloon as an object of knowledge in terms of its intrinsic characteristics and its visual and broader cultural ecosystem. Contact information and virtual Zoom link : marianne.simon-oikawa@u-paris.fr.

Monday, April 13

The Japan Society will present Trey Trahan: Bridging Cultures, Building Community, a talk by founder and CEO of Trahan Architects in New Orleans. During frequent visits to Japan, Trahan developed a passion and deep reverence for Japanese art and culture. His firm is celebrated for its dedication to craft, sensitivity to landscape and innovative material applications—all influenced by Japanese tradition. His collection of Japanese art, his contacts and enthusiasm won his firm the commission for the USA Pavilion at EXPO 2025 in Osaka. For more information, click here.

Thursday, April 23, 5 p.m. EDT

JASA will present a webinar by Dr. Monika Bincsik, Diane and Arthur Abbey Curator for Japanese Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Dr. Bincsik will discuss her new exhibition, The Infinite Artistry of Japanese Ceramics, which is on view in the newly renovated Arts of Japan Galleries until August 8, 2027, in three rotations. Much of the selection is drawn from the Harry G. C. Packard Collection, presented in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of its landmark acquisition. Comprising more than four hundred artworks—including Buddhist sculptures, paintings from the medieval period through the nineteenth century, and a wide range of ceramics—the Packard Collection established the foundation of the Museum’s Japanese art holdings. The current issue of the journal Impressions, titled “Harry Packard: The Infinite Artistry of Japanese Ceramics,” and edited by Julia Meech, is dedicated to this exhibition. Click here to register for the Zoom event: April 23 Webinar.

Friday-Sunday, April 24 -26, 5 p.m. EDT

The Center for Buddhist Culture at the University of Arizona, Tucson, will hold a symposium on A Buddhist Heaven on Earth: Hangzhou Buddhism and its Historical Significance, in a hybrid format (in-person and online participation), April 24 -26. For registration, conference agenda and other information, click here.

Thursdays, April 16, 23 and 30

The Donald Keene Center at Columbia University presents a series of lectures on literature and art, in Kent Hall Room 403. Scholars and topics are as follows:

Thomas Gaubatz, Assistant Professor of Japanese Literature and Culture, Northwestern University, The Textual Townsman: Writing Urban Identity in Early Modern Japan. April 16, 6 p.m. Preregistration is required. Click here to register. Walk-ins for active CUID holders only.
Alicia Volk, Professor of Art History, University of Maryland, In the Shadow of an Empire: Art in Occupied Japan, April 23, 6 p.m. Preregistration is required. Click here to register. Walk-ins for active CUID holders only.
Rethinking “Nature” in Japanese Literature and Culture, a workshop that considers the nonhuman and natural disaster in Japanese literature and culture. Two talks in English with discussion in Japanese, April 30, 4-6:15 p.m.

1. Hanako Kinoshita, Professor of Japanese Literature, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology University of Tokyo, Nature, Reclusion, and “The Ten-Foot Square Hut” (Hōjōki), 4:10-4:50 p.m.
2. Keisuke Unno, Professor of Japanese Literature, Faculty of Education and Integrated Arts and Sciences Waseda University, “Spiritual Awakening of Non-Sentient Objects, Painting, and the Intersection of Buddhism and Animism in Medieval Japan”, 5-5:40 p.m.

Discussants: Haruo Shirane (Columbia University) and Yoshitaka Yamamoto (Yale University). Preregistration required. Click here to register. Limited seats. Walk-ins for active CUID holders only.

Thursday, April 30, 6–7:30p.m.

The Mary Griggs Burke Lecture series at Columbia University, at 807 Schermerhorn Hall, presents Tina Pang, Curator at the M+ Museum in Hong Kong, who will speak on Canton Modern: Art to Save the Nation, an important theme in their 2025 exhibition Canton Modern: Art and Visual Culture, 1900’s–1970. The exxhibition focused on three artists from Guangdong and Hong Kong who travelled to Japan in the early 1900’s to study Western painting techniques embedded in Nihonga painting that offered insight into the Western ideals and approaches to modernization the Japanese adapted during the Meiji period. Canton artist Gao Jianfu (1879-1951), his brother Gao Qifeng (1889-1933), and statesman-artist Chen Shuren (1884-1949)—later known collectively as the Lingnan School—articulated the aspirations of a generation who were aligned with the revolutionary goals of Sun-Yat-sen’s Tongmenghui (Alliance Society) and who shared the traumas of revolution, war and displacement. Collectively, their practices advocate for the agency of art and artists to shape the cultural and political worlds they inhabited. To RSVP email: mo2486@columbia.edu For more information click here.

Museum and Gallery Exhibitions

April 9–12

The IFPDA Fair at the Park Avenue Armory in New York presents 80 exhibitors from Stockholm to Singapore, with an expanded focus on drawings and a robust schedule of daily programming. JASA members and patrons are invited to attend the VIP opening on Thursday, April 9. To access their VIP Passes, guests affiliated with JASA may paste the custom code JASAVIP-26 in the coupon field when checking out from our ticketing page. Both The Tolman Collection of New York and Scholten Japanese Art will be exhibiting. For more information, click here.

April 9–12

Tai Modern is expanding beyond Santa Fe and New York. They return to EXPO Chicago 2026 with Warping Timelines: Tradition to Innovation, pairing works of accomplished bamboo artists with paintings by Jennifer Lynch, Navy Pier Festival Hall, Booth #302, with a VIP preview on Thursday, April 9.

April 16–19

At the Dallas Art Fair, Tai Modern’s focused exhibition of bamboo art will feature major works by living masters whose practice expand the boundaries between traditional craft and contemporary sculpture. For more information, click here.

April 9–23

Dai Ichi Arts opens Expressions in Clay: A Presentation of Contemporary Japanese Ceramics, online only. Works are available to view upon request.

April 13–May 1

Thomsen Gallery introduces modern Japanese painting to American viewers and collectors in screen and hanging scroll formats, featuring Yoshio Okada (b. 1934) and other modern painters at the gallery at 8 East 67th Street, New York.

March 2026

Lectures and Events

Saturday, March 7, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. EDT

A “Hands-on Miso” event at The Noguchi Musum (9-01 33rd Rd, Astoria, NY), a collaboration with Kiyomi Tanigawa of Misomara restaurant in Brooklyn, is planned to to inform participants about the different regions and varieties of the miso fermentation process and its connection to the aging process of Noguchi’s stone sculptures.

Thursday, March 19, 6:30–8 p.m PDT

Daigo Daitoku, curator of the exhibition Pictograms: Iconic Japanese Design, and Julia Huang, Chair of the Arts and Culture Committee of the 2028 Long Beach Olympic Games, will speak about their work designing pictograms for the 2028 Olympic Games at Japan House Los Angeles.

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

JASA is holding its annual lecture and meeting of members at Japan Society, 333 E. 47th St., New York. The lecture, We Do Not Work Alone: Kawai Kanjirō and Ceramics in Modern Kyoto, will be delivered by Meghen Jones, Professor of Art History at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. This talk explores how Kawai Kanjirō (1890–1966) and fellow Kyoto ceramic artists navigated the legacy of Kyō-yaki (Kyoto ware) amid the upheavals of mid-20th-century Japan, variously adapting and challenging its refined, colorful, literary and painterly conventions through communal practices, engagement with nature, and poetic reflections on craft and spirit. Both events can be attended in person or via Zoom. Registration is required whether attending the noon member meeting in person or via Zoom, or if attending the 11 a.m. lecture via Zoom. The in-person lecture is a free ticketed event for JASA members; contact jasa@japaneseartsoc.org for tickets. Nonmembers, please contact the Japan Society box office at (212) 715-1258. Only those with tickets will be admitted.

Thursday, March 26, 6:30–7:30 p.m EDT

Satomi Yamamoto of Waseda University will present a lecture on Iconographies of Self-sacrifice: Altruism in the Tamamushi Shrine, Pictorial Biography of Uisang, and Nine Stages of Decay at the Mary Griggs Burke Center, Columbia University, Schermerhorn Hall. This presentation will trace a continuous lineage of self-sacrifice imagery in Japanese painting that begins with the Jataka Tale paintings on the side panels of the Tamamushi Shrine (7th c., Hōryūji), and continues through the Pictorial Biography of Uisang (Karmic Origins of the Kegon Sect, 13th c., Kōsanji) to Nine Stages of Decay (late 13th–early 14th c., Kyushu National Museum). The analysis will argue that religious ideals of altruistic actions, including self-destructive ones, underlie these seemingly unrelated works. RSVP required for campus access: mo2486@columbia.edu.

March 25 deadline to register for event Wednesday–Thursday, April 8-9

Join Dr. Rhiannon Paget and collectors Charles and Robyn Citrin for two days of prints at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota, Florida. Day 1: View the extensive collection of surimono, shin hanga, and sōsaku hanga belonging to Charles and Robyn Citrin. Day 2: At the Ringling Museum, tour the Nude in Modern Japan exhibition with Dr. Paget and a special viewing of prints in Yoshida Hiroshi: Journeys through Light. Limited to 20 people. For more information and registration, email Rhiannon.Paget@ringling.org.

Asia Week Exhibitions in New York City

Ronin Gallery is showing Landscape Masters: Hokusai, Hiroshige, Hasui, and Yoshida, with iconic works spanning more than a century that traces the evolution of landscape imagery through season, atmosphere and travel, in dialogue with paintings by OZ Keisuke Yamaguchi: Conversation with Masters, works informed by ukiyo-e aesthetics, and the artist’s architectural training, that extend Japanese landscape traditions into the present. For more information, click here.

March 14–19

Ippodo Gallery will debut at TEFAF Maastricht in the Netherlands with Authentic Colors of Japan, an exhibition featuring 20 of Japan’s most distinguished contemporary artists. For more information, click here.

Opens March 19

For Asia Week, Ippodo presents Banquet of Life: Nihonga Paintings by Daisuke Nakano. An artist’s talk is on March 21.

March 19–23

Tai Modern presents Japanese Bamboo Art: Tradition and Transformation, exploring the dialogue between historical tradition and contemporary innovation in Japanese bamboo art. The show brings together works separated by generations, but rooted in tradition, at Colnaghi, 23 E. 67th St., 4th Floor, New York.

March 19–27

Eric Zetterquist Gallery will show a selection of Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean Ceramics, featuring works from the Menke Family Collection. For more information, click here.

March 19–27

At Dai Ichi Arts, Ltd., Ceramic Modernisms: New Perspectives on 20th Century Japanese Ceramics, features three key artists: Yasuhara Kimei (1906–1980), Kusube Yaichi (1897–1984) and Miyanohara Ken (1898–1977), whose works championed new expressions of art, design and beauty, and positioned Tokyo alongside Kyoto as a major center for modern artistic expression through ceramics. For more information, click here.

March 19–27

Scholten Japanese Art is celebrating its 25th silver anniversary during Asia Week. Their special show, Sterling: 25 Years in New York, will look to their past with selections from their previous 90 exhibitions, nine publications and more than 7000 prints sold to diverse museums and collectors, revealing their commitment to follow the development of woodblock prints from the early 20th century to the explosive post-war period. For more information click here.

March 19–27

Thomsen Gallery will feature modern Japanese paintings, especially Yoshio Okada (1934-2021) and other artists of the Taisho and Showa eras.

March 19–April 3

The Onishi Gallery presents leading Japanese artists including Living National Treasures. For more information, click here.

March 20–27

Sebastian Izzard presents The Pleasures of Edo: An Important Handscroll by Hishikawa Moronobu (1618?-1694), and a selection of prints and paintings, 1810- 1860. Daily 11 a.m.–5 p.m, Sunday 1–5 p.m.

March 22–23

For Asia Week, Egenhof Gallery will be at the Mark Hotel with Captivated: Cats in Japanese Prints and Paintings. The works include 19th-century classical ukiyo-e prints and drawings of beauties with cats, as well as early 20th-century ink paintings and prints that feature cats as primary subjects. For more information, click here.

Past Events and Exhibitions

January and February 2026

Lectures and Events

Wednesday, January 7 at 7–8:30 p.m. PST

The Beauty of Japanese Sculpture: Heian Period is the third session of six lectures by Michael VanHortingsveldt on Japanese sculpture at the Japan Foundation, Los Angeles, 5700 Wilshire Blvd. During the Heian Period, new aesthetics and techniques emerged that reinforced the potential of wood as a medium. Free, but registration required. For more information, and for the date of the February lecture, click here.

Tuesday, January 13 at 2 p.m. EST

JASA presents Stephen Salel, Curator of Japanese Art at the Honolulu Museum of Art, who will discuss Lyrically Rebellious: The Prints of Onchi Koshirō, the exhibition at the Honolulu Museum of Arts. The exhibition celebrates the 70th anniversary of the death of Onchi Koshirō (1891-1955), one of Japan’s first abstract artists and leader of the Sōsaku Hanga (Creative Prints) movement. For this January 13 webinar, register here.

Museum and Gallery Exhibitions

January 5–February 27

Welcoming the Year of the Horse, Joan Mirviss Ltd. presents, at her gallery and online, Playing with Tradition: Modern and Contemporary Mino, which will feature ceramics by past Mino masters such as Arakawa Toyozō, Katō Yasukage and Suzuki Osamu, complemented by works from younger emerging potters. For more information, click here.

January 23– February 1

Also look for Mirviss Ltd. at the Park Avenue Armory Winter Show 2026 with Reflections in Black and White: Japanese Art in Clay and Ink, showing a remarkable range of expression in ceramics, paintings and calligraphy. For more information, click here.

January 13– February 27

Japanese metal artists are usually men, due to the physical strength required and the ties to samurai culture. Countering that trend, Onishi Gallery presents Heated Colors, Hammered Forms: Female Metal Artists of Japan, highlighting the creativity of women working with in gold, silver, platinum, copper, lead and distinctive Japanese alloys.

January 21– February 1

Erik Thomsen will exhibit at the Park Avenue Armory Winter Show, while Golden Treasures: Japanese Gold Lacquer Boxes continues at their gallery until February 6.

February 21–22; February 28–March 1

In Switzerland, Thomsen Gallery will participate at Maze Art Gstaad, February 19-22, and at Maze Art St. Moritz, February 28–March 1.

January 22– February 5

Daiichi Arts presents Memories of a House, a solo exhibition by the internationally acclaimed Kyoto-based potter Hayashi Yasuo (b. 1928), who is an important pioneer in abstraction in contemporary Japanese ceramics. In his youth, Hayashi was a founding member of Shiko-kai, a precursor to the avant-garde ceramics group Sodeisha, which he also joined in 1966. The show at Daiichi Arts includes new and past sculptural works. For more information, click here.

January 23–25

Egenolf Gallery Japanese Prints of Burbank, California, will show at the Portland, Oregon, Fine Art Fair at the Portland Art Museum. The evening of January 26 is an opening preview and benefit; Saturday and Sunday are admission free. For more information, click here.

February 21–22

Egenolf Gallery will be at Rare Books LA Pasadena at the Historic Raymond Theater and Courtyard Marriott Ballroom, 180 N. Fair Oaks Avenue. For more information, click here.

Until February 18

The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles, has a quintessentially Japanese craft exhibit on view. Package Craft: From Candy Box to Sculpture showcases a creative form of papercraft that transforms empty boxes into 3D figures such as heroes, animals and Buddhist statues, highlighting the beauty of everyday packaging and its creative transformation into art. For more information, click here.

New and Noteworthy

The Naej Foundation announces the global launch of its Japanese Bamboo Platform—the world’s first and largest online resource dedicated to the art of Japanese bamboo. This groundbreaking platform is accessible worldwide, free of charge, at https://naejartcollection.com. With acquisition and documentation developed by Joe Earle in collaboration with TBO Digital GmbH over 10 years, the platform contains over 1,070 works; 8,000 high-resolution images covering main views, details, bases, signatures and box inscriptions; and related documents in English and Japanese.

The Sainsbury Center is organizing a two-day conference on the future of the study of art, craft and design in a transnational perspective to honor the memory of the late Professor Toshio Watanabe. Submissions are invited by January 15, 2026. The conference is scheduled for May 15 –16, 2026, in London. For more information, click here.

Ongoing Exhibits

Until January 25, 2026

The Art of Manga is still on view at the de Young Museum, Golden Gate Park, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, San Francisco.

Until January 25, 2026

Chiharu Shiota: Two Home Countries remains at Japan Society, New York.

Until February 7, 2026

Ruth Asawa: A Retrospective, a stunning survey at the Museum of Modern Art of the artist’s six-decade-long career, was organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and MoMA. It documents Asawa’s life and work as a model of integrated art practice that saw no separation between living and art. For more information, click here.

Until February 8, 2026

Japanese Jewels: Imperial Silver Bonbonnières from the collection of Nancy and Robin Markbreiter is at the University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong. For more information, click here.

Until April 4, 2026

Men’s Kimono: Threads of Life, Tales of Style, presented by the Center for the Study of the History of Textiles, Costumes, and Perfume, at Il Museo Di Palazzo Mocenigo, in Venice, Italy, focuses on the decorative schema in early 20th-century men’s kimono. The exhibition shows how the kimono ornamentation functions as a narrative source, offering data on Japanese art, history and social life.

Until April 12, 2026

The Honolulu Museum of Art continues Lyrically Rebellious: The Prints of Onchi Koshirō.

Until May 3, 2026

Until May 24, 2026

The Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College continues Shining Prints: The Tale of Genji Reimagined in Japan.

Until July 2, 2026

Until September 13, 2026

Until July 12, 2027

At the Seattle Art Museum, the exhibition Ash-Glazed Ceramics from Korea and Japan is on view.December 2025

Lectures and Events

Wednesday, December 10, at 5 p.m. EST

JASA presents a live webinar with Dr. Jeannie Kenmotsu, Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Curator of Asian Art at the Portland Art Museum, Oregon, who will speak on The Art of Yoshida Chizuko (1924-2017), a groundbreaking 20th-century painter and printmaker. Today Chizuko is best known as a member of the Yoshida family of artists into which she married. However, as a young painter she made inroads into the male-dominated art establishment of mid-century Japan. Gifted with a brilliant sense of color and pattern, Chizuko won prizes for her work that was engaged with abstraction for over sixty years. Her first major retrospective, Yoshida Chizuko, at the Portland Art Museum until January 4, 2026, brings together over 100 works, many which have never been seen outside Japan. Click here to register for the Zoom event: Dec 10 Webinar.

Wednesday, December 10, at 7–8 p.m. PST

The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles (5700 Wilshire Blvd.), presents Kimono in Hollywood, a lecture demonstration by Sueko Oshimoto, an award-winning costume designer and kimono master who shapes bold storytelling about Japanese culture and color theory through costume. Admission free, but registration is required. To register, click here. For Sueko Oshimoto, see: www.kimonosk.com

Museum and Gallery Exhibitions

Until April 4, 2026

December 2–7

Erik Thomsen will be at Design Miami exhibiting bamboo basketry, lacquer boxes, and folding screens.

December 10–February 6, 2026

At his new New York Gallery, Golden Treasures: Japanese Gold Lacquer Boxes are on view.

Until December 3–7

The Tolman Collection is among the vendors at the Ink Miami Art Fair, 850 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach, Florid. Admission is free.

Ongoing Exhibits

Until December 12

Onishi Gallery shows works from Okayama Prefecture, Clay, Iron and Fire: the Bizen and Setouchi Heritage. Bizen ceramics have achieved international renown. Lesser known is the Mushiage ware from Setouchi, with transparent pine ash glazes and soft colors. For more information click here.

Until December 14

In collaboration with the Portland Japanese Gardens in Oregon, Honolulu Museum of Art spotlights the International Mokuhanga Association, established in 2011 to foster water-based woodblock print making (mokuhanga), with Enduring Impressions, an exhibit of six rising stars in the international mokuhanga community. The exhibition will open in Portland in Spring 2026. On view at HoMA. For more information, click here.

Until December 18

Ronin Gallery concludes its year-long 50th Anniversary with Contemporary Talents, which highlights prints by Japanese and American artists whose works are distinctly modern yet rooted in cultural heritage. For more information, click here.

Until December 20

Ritual & Renewal: Contemporary Japanese tea caddies and incense ceramics (Koro and Kogo) is on view at Dai Ichi Arts, online and 18 East 64th Street; private viewings by appointment only. For more information, click here.

Through December

At Joan Mirviss Ltd., masters of the Kutani glaze techniques Nakamura Takuo and Takegoshi Jun show new works in Beyond Kutani II, Innovations in Form and Color. For more information, click here.

Through December

At The National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, DC, view Knotted Clay: Raku Ceramics and Tea.

Until January 4, 2026

The Portland Art Museum, Oregon, presents Yoshida Chizuko (1924-2017).

Until January 7, 2026

Forms of the Unconscious, Ippodo Gallery’s exhibition of Kan Yasuda’s works in marble and bronze, continues. For more information, click here.

Until January 9, 2026

See Travel. Tourism, and the Transmission of Knowledge in and Around Japan at the University of Kansas.

Until January 11, 2026

Hiroshi Yoshida: Journey through Light continues at the Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota.

Until January 25, 2026

The Art of Manga is still on view at the de Young Museum, Golden Gate Park, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, San Francisco.

Until January 25, 2026

Chiharu Shiota: Two Home Countries remains at Japan Society, New York.

Until February 7, 2026

Until February 8, 2026

Until April 12, 2026

The Honolulu Museum of Art continues Lyrically Rebellious: The Prints of Onchi Koshirō.

Until May 3, 2026

Until May 24, 2026

The Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College continues Shining Prints: The Tale of Genji Reimagined in Japan.

Until July 2, 2026

Until September 13, 2026

Until July 12, 2027

At the Seattle Art Museum, the exhibition Ash-Glazed Ceramics from Korea and Japan is on view.

November 2025

Lectures and Events

Tuesday, November 11, at 5 p.m. EST

JASA presents Dr. Andreas Marks, Mary Griggs Burke Curator of Japanese and Korean Art at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, in a zoom webinar on Japanese illustrated books in premodern times. Japan’s Manga Revolution: From Painted Scrolls to Comic Books will elucidate the evolution of illustrated books as painted handscrolls appeared as texts enhanced with pictures. This talk surveys images inspired by poetry, celebrated beauties, kabuki actors and tales of adventures, ending with the birth of political cartoons in the 20th century. Click here to register for the Zoom event: Nov 11 Webinar. Please contact Cheryl Gall, Membership Coordinator, at jasa@japaneseartsoc.org or 978-600-8128 with any questions.

Wednesday, November 12 (with future dates TBD), 7-8:30 p.m. PST

The Japan Foundation Los Angeles is starting a new lecture series on Japanese art, to be held once a month for the next six months, that will trace the historical development of sculpture in Japan. The series lecturer is Michael VanHartingsveldt, Japan Foundation Art and Culture Program Officer. The first talk is The Beauty of Japanese Sculpture: Before and During the Asuka Period. Admission is free, but registration is required. 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA. For more information, click here

Thursday, November 13, at 6–8 p.m. EST

A new series at The Met called Reading Modern Art features Gennifer Weisenfield, Distinguished Professor of Art, Duke University, who will introduce her new book, The Fine Art of Persuasion: Corporate Advertising Design, Nation, and Empire in Modern Japan. Discussants will be John Carpenter, Met Curator of Japanese Art, and Georgia Traganou, Parsons School of Design, the New School. Bonnie J. Sacerdote Lecture Hall, 1000 Fifth Ave. (81st St. entrance), New York, NY. RSVP required by November 10. For more information, click here.

Thursday, November 13, at 6–7:30 p.m. EST

At the Mary Griggs Burke Center, Columbia University, Hiroshi Asaka, Special Fellow at the Museum of the Imperial Collections (Sannomaru Shozōkan, Tokyo), will give a talk on the formation and history of the imperial collection and the current state of the Imperial Household Collection. 807 Schermerhorn Hall, Columbia University, 1190 Amsterdam Ave., New York, NY. RSVP for campus access QR code or Zoom link: mo2486@columbia.edu.

Thursday, November 20, at 6–7:30 p.m. PST

Tanya Uyeda, Director of East Asian Painting Conservation at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), will present a talk on the conservation of The Four Accomplishments, a set of four 17th-century fusuma paintings being remounted in the Tateuchi Conservation Studio for a loan to a Japanese exhibition in Summer 2026. The two-venue exhibition (as yet unidentified) in Japan will reunite SAM’s paintings with a related set of bird and flower paintings belonging to the British Museum, and a recently discovered set of paintings from a private Japanese collection. SAM Plestcheeff Auditorium, 1300 1st Ave., Seattle, WA. SAM members $10, SAM member guests, $15. For more information, click here.

Tuesday, November 25, at 3 p.m. EST

Tim Zhang, Research Associate in Asian Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, will present a Met Expert Talk on Musical Aspects of Edo Period Painting, drawing on research he did with John Carpenter for the catalogue The Three Perfections: Japanese Poetry, Calligraphy, and Painting from the Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection. This program celebrates Carnegie Hall’s citywide Spotlight Japanseries. Art Study Room, the Met’s Uris Center for Education, 1000 Fifth Ave. at 81st St.,
New York, NY. For more information click here, and here.

Museum and Gallery Exhibitions

November 5, 2025– February 8, 2026

For visitors to Hong Kong, Japanese Jewels: Imperial Silver Bonbonnières is an unusual exhibition of the Nancy and Robin Marcbreiter Collection of the small silver containers—adorned with gold inlays and enamel—that became prominent in Meiji era imperial ceremonies. These masterful works of metal craftsmanship were used as gifts or party favors at important social or diplomatic functions that involved the imperial family. On view at the University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong. For more information, click here.

Until Thursday, November 6

Art in London 2025, an annual program, promotes London as a center of excellence in the arts of Asia with an array of specialized exhibitions, auctions and lectures presented by notable dealers, auction houses and leading cultural institutions. Fans of Japanese art will note the following two shows:

Anastasia von Seibold Japanese Art presents Edo to Showa: Fine 18th–20th Century Japanese Prints and Contemporary Paintings, which features Edo period ukiyo-e prints and a group of 20th-century Shin-hanga works. Rare prints by Charles Bartlett and Elizabeth Keith, and contemporary works by Toko Shinoda and Asakura Takafumi, are also available. Until November 5. Conduit Street Gallery, Sotheby’s London. For more information, click here.

Beauties, Beasts and Blossoms: An Important London Private Collection of Japanese Paintings is an online sale at Bonhams, London, with public viewings at its New Bond Street location. Until November 5. For more information, click here.

November 6–10

The Salon Art and Design show at the Park Avenue Armory in New York will have three booths with Japanese art:

Carole Davenport will show classical Japanese Negoro lacquer, an early Heian sculpture, a Momoyama period Buddhist hanging scroll and Noh masks. For more information, click here.

Ippodo Gallery will present Dialogues in Material, contemporary objects by Japanese and Western artists featuring a variety of materials that spark a unique chemistry of Japanese sensibility and western practice. For more information click here.

Onishi Gallery will feature Bizen ceramics and Osafune swords in Clay, Iron and Fire: the Bizen and Setouchi Heritage, works from Okayama Prefecture that embody centuries of craftsmanship. Their Upper EastSide gallery will also be open. For more information click here.

November 7–9

The Capital Art Fair of DC 2025, the oldest fair in America devoted to fine prints and drawings, will be open at the University Club of Washington DC; Saturday and Sunday are admission free. Seventeen exhibitors from across the United States will participate, including The Tolman Collection and the Verne Collection of Cleveland. For more information, click here.

November 7–December

Joan Mirviss Ltd. will feature new works by masters of the Kutani glaze techniques, Nakamura Takuo and Takegoshi Jun. The works in Beyond Kutani II, Innovations in Form and Color show their use the traditional colors of Old Kutani–emerald green, mustard yellow, peacock blue, brick red and eggplant purple—but Takegoshi paints flora and fauna on porcelain, while Nakamura creates sculptural forms in stoneware with colored surface decoration. For more information, click here.

November 7–December 18

Ronin Gallery concludes its year-long 50th anniversary celebration with the exhibition Contemporary Talents that focuses on the present and the artists shaping the future of Japanese art. The show highlights prints by Japanese and American artists who expand expressive possibilities across styles and media, interweaving old and new to yield works that are distinctly modern yet rooted in cultural heritage. For more information, click here

November 9, 2025–September 13, 2026

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art will open Deep Cuts: Block Printing Across Cultures, exploring revival, reinvention and refinement of block printing across cultures from the eighth century in Asia, Europe and North America. For more information, click here.

November 13, 2025–January 17, 2026

Ippodo Gallery presents Forms of the Unconscious, a major solo exhibition by internationally acclaimed sculptor Kan Yasuda, which celebrates Yasuda’s receipt of the distinguished 2025 Isamu Noguchi Award and marks his return to New York after more than a decade. The exhibition features new and iconic works in his signature Bianco Carrara marble and bronze. For more information, click here.

November 25–December 19

Dai Ichi Arts will open Ritual & Renewal: Contemporary Japanese Tea Caddies and Incense Ceramics (Koro and Kogo), a winter exhibition of small works by master Japanese ceramicists hat are beloved by connoisseurs and practitioners of cha-no-yu. Online and 18 East 64th Street; private viewings by appointment only. For more information, click here.

Until February 7, 2026

Ruth Asawa: A Retrospective, a 300-piece survey at the Museum of Modern Art of the artist’s six-decades–long career is an exploration of materials and forms in a variety of media–wire sculptures, bronze casts, drawings, paintings, prints and public works. Asawa, who studied at Black Mountain College in the late 1940’s, made art every day. This show, organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and MoMA, documents Asawa’s life and work as a model of integrated art practice that saw no separation between living and art. For more information, click here.

Until July 5, 2026

Princeton University has opened a splendid new art museum designed by Sir David Adjaye, the Ghanaian-British architect noted for infusing artistic sensibilities into community-driven projects. In addition to collection displays, the opening special exhibition celebrates the work of former Princeton professor Toshiko Takaesu, the Hawaiian-born ceramicist whose works are abstract paintings in the round. For more information, click here.

New and Noteworthy

Tuttle has published A Japanese Art Journey: A Curator’s Memoir of Polka Dot Pumkins, Paper Dolls and Woodblock Prints, by Meher McArthur, former curator at the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena, of her experiences in Japanese art. This narrative of personal growth demonstrates in one person’s life the power of art to inspire and illuminate one’s place in the world. For more information click here.

October 2025

Lectures and Events

Monday, October 6, 5 p.m. EST

JASA presents an online lecture on manga by Dr. Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere, Research Director, Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Art and Culture at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. The lecture will focus on two major exhibitions Dr. Rousmaniere has curated, the first in 2019 at the British Museum, and the second now ongoing at the de Young Museum, one of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (see Museums, below). Once referring primarily to comics and graphic novels, manga now encompasses digital media, fine art, fashion, and other cultural expressions, achieving immense international reach. To register for the event, Exploring the Art of Manga, click here.

Wednesday, October 8, 4:30–6 pm

Keiji Shinohara, Master Printer, Artist-in-Residence, at Wesleyan University, will demonstrate woodblock printmaking while also exploring the history of ukiyo-e and the evolution of techniques and tools used in the production of multicolor prints, at this event, Cultural Impressions: A Japanese Woodblock Printmaking Demonstration, part of “Insight into Meiji Japanese Art, Books, and Prints Program” at Yale University. Henry R. Luce Hall Auditorium, 34 Hillhouse Ave., New Haven, CT. For more information, click here.

October 14, 7–8:30 p.m.

The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles, will present Dr. Meghen Jones from Alfred University who will speak on Ceramic Poetics and “Living National Treasures” in Japan Today. Her talk draws upon recent interviews and studio visits with current Living National Treasure designees and explores their vessel-centric philosophy with techniques of clay, glaze, and firing. For more information click here.

October 16, 6–7:30 p.m.

The Mary Griggs Burke Center for Japanese Art will present the Inaugural Miyeko Murase Memorial Lecture with a talk by Midori Sano, Professor Emerita of Gakushuin University in Tokyo. Folding Screens of the Tale of Genji: An Endless Journey will introduce Tale of Genji screens from the late 16th to early 17th century and focus on the new and distinct visual methods they use that departed from earlier established pictorial systems depicted in smaller formats. 807 Schermerhorn Hall, Columbia University. In-person and also available on Zoom; must contact Midori Oka (mo2486@columbia.edu) to RSVP and receive QR code to enter campus or Zoom link. Columbia University remains a closed campus. For more information, click here.

October 25, 9:15 a.m.–4:30 p.m., followed by reception

Discovering Yoshida Chizuko: A Symposium, The Mildred Schnitzer Memorial Program in Asian Art for 2025,

This day-long event for scholars, curators and artists will explore ideas introduced in the exhibition (see below) and offer an expanded context for her work. Speakers will discuss the inspirations that shaped Chizuko’s practice as well as her art and legacy in the historiography of modern Japanese art. Other topics include gender, postwar oil painting, 20th-century printmaking, and the Yoshida family of artists. Fields Ballroom, Portland Art Museum, Mark Building, 1119 SW Park Ave., Portland, Oregon. Registration fee; $25 for nonmembers. $12 for members and students with ID. For more information, click here.

Museum and Gallery Exhibitions

Until October 5

The Heritage Museum of Asian Art in Chicago will feature the work of Master Printer David Hwang with Gyotaku: Impressions of the Sea. A ticketed Introduction to Gyotaku workshop is scheduled for October 4, from 2–4 p.m.

Until October 11

Carole Davenport presents Kurahara at 100: Abstract Color, A Life in Art, a selection of paintings by Ted Kurahara that span his career, from 1954 to the present. A Japanese American artist who joined the famed 442ed regiment from an internment camp during WWII, Kurahara is noted for canvasses in solid colors and blended tones, and for a 30-year teaching career at Pratt Institute. Exhibition at Tambaran 2 Gallery. For more information click here.

Until October 11

Ippodo Gallery presents Koichiro Isezaki: Clay in Flow, the second solo exhibition in New York for this Bizen potter. Works include his iconic Yō vessels, as well as tea bowls and flower vases. From 4–5 p.m. on September 11, Isezaki and his mentor, Jeff Shapiro, will discuss practices of the Bizen kilns. For more information, click here.

October 23 -November 6

Dai Ichi Arts, Ltd., presents Silent Earth: Contemporary Ceramics by Kato Mami, the first solo exhibition in New York of this award-winning ceramic artist who is known for innovative glazes over porcelain vessel forms. Based in Tokoname, Kato is celebrated for her hand-built layering process and her “Frost Glaze.” For more information, click here.

October 24 -November 14

Erik Thomsen will feature works by Hatakeyama Kōji (b. 1956), who makes bronze vessels lined with gold foil, following techniques developed in ancient Mesopotamia, and adding applications of miso paste and vinegar to produce vivid tones and texture.

October 25

Onishi Gallery will participate in the Madison Avenue Fall Gallery Walkon. Their exhibition of table wares in Bizen clay by Kondō Masahiko (b. 1971) includes plate stands that resemble wood.

Until October 25

Joan B. Mirviss, Ltd., presents Collapse / Rebirth II, the second solo exhibition by renowned female ceramists Fujino Sachiko and Futamura Yoshimi. First brought together in 2016, their new work shows evolving approaches to clay in finishes and form. For more information, click here.

Until October 25

For Asia Week, Erik Thomsen features elegant works by celadon specialist Fukami Sueharu. For more information, click here.

Until October 26

The College Women’s Association of Japan (CWAJ) is a Tokyo-based volunteer organization dedicated to promoting education and cross-cultural exchange. Each year CWAJ produces a juried print show as their principal fundraiser in Tokyo. This year, as part of their 75th anniversary celebration, their 2024 exhibit, Trailblazers: Celebrating Contemporary Japanese Prints, will be on view at the Highfield Hall and Gardens in Falmouth, Massachusetts. The exhibition will feature 137 acclaimed Japanese printmakers showcasing a range of techniques from traditional woodblock prints to contemporary innovations and highlight the work of five outstanding trailblazers who overcame barriers to pursue careers in the visual arts: Shinoda Toko (1913–2021); Yoshida Chizuko (1924–2017); Iwami Reika (1927–2020); Yanagisawa Noriko (1940– ); and Tatsuno Toeko (1950–2014). Proceeds from the sale of original prints will support Highfield’s cultural programs and the CWAJ scholarship fund. For more information, click here, or visit highfieldhallandgardens.org.

Through October 30

At the Ronin Gallery, Modern Perspectives: Woodblock Prints from the 20th Century, features important masters in shin-hanga and sōsaku hanga, such as Kawase Hasui, Hiroshi Yoshida, Hashiguchi Goyo, Shiko Munakata, Kiyoshi Saito and Koshirō Onchi, whose work bridged tradition and innovation, redefining ukiyo-e for a modern era. For more information click here.

Until November 30

The National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, DC, has a number of Japanese art exhibitions on view, including shows of metalwork and the tea ceremony practice. Most intriguing is Cut and Paste: Experimental Japanese Prints and Photographs, featuring works from their own collection. Seventeen 20th-century artists are included with works that are on view for the first time. For more information, click here.

Until November 30; April 12, 2026

Visitors to Honolulu will encounter a rich selection of print exhibitions at the Honolulu Museum of Art (HoMA). Lyrically Rebellious: The Prints of Onchi Koshirō, a retrospective of 81 prints that show how Onchi changed the course of modern art in Japan by popularizing abstract art, is on view until April 12, 2026. HoMA has the largest collection of Onchi prints outside of Japan; this show and accompanying catalog celebrate his leadership in establishing the creative print movement. As a complement to Lyrically Rebellious, HoMA also presents additional examples of sōsaku hanga in Beyond Onchi: Works by Creative Print Artists, on view through November 30. For more information, click here.

Until December 14

Also, in collaboration with the Portland Japanese Gardens in Oregon, HoMA spotlights the International Mokuhanga Association, established in 2011 to foster water-based woodblock print making (mokuhanga), with Enduring Impressions, an exhibit of six rising stars in the international mokuhanga community. The exhibition will open in Portland in Spring 2026. On view at HoMA. For more information, click here.

Until December 5

Asian Art Museum of San Francisco is also home to one of the world’s largest collections of bamboo art, thanks to a 2001 donation from Lloyd Cotsen (1929–2017), who encouraged contemporary bamboo artists in Japan with sponsorship of the Cotsen Bamboo prize. Today that legacy lives on with the 2024 New Generation Bamboo Art Prize, arranged by Robert Coffland and Margo Thoma, with an exhibition of this year’s winners of that prize.

Until December

The Philadelphia Museum of Art’s show Visions of the Land in Japan, an exhibition of landscapes on paintings and objects drawn from their own collections, continues through the remainder of the year. For more information, click here.

Until January 4, 2026

The Portland Art Museum, Oregon, presents Yoshida Chizuko (1924-2017), the first retrospective of the artist’s six-decades long engagement with abstraction. The retrospective traces the evolution of her career independent of her father-in-law, Yoshida Hiroshi, and her husband, Yoshida Hodaka, with more than 100 works, many of which have never been on public view. For more information, click here. The museum is holding a day-long Scholar’s Day and Symposium on October 25. See Lectures, above.

Until January 4, 2026

At the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS, Professor Sherry Fowler has organized Travel, Tourism, and the Transmission of Knowledge in and around Japan, an exhibition of materials drawn from the extensive collections of the University’s Kenneth Spencer Research Library. Works ranging from 1646–1936 include cartography, woodblock printed imagery and religious paraphernalia. The show was an outgrowth of Fowler’s Japanese art history seminar. The complete catalogue is available here.

Until January 11, 2026

The Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida, is presenting Hiroshi Yoshida: Journeys through Light, featuring prints made from sketches produced on his travels across the Americas, Europe, North Africa and Asia. The works focus on his betsu-zuri, or “separate printings,” referring to multiple color versions of a single design. For more information click here.

Until January 25, 2026

The Art of Manga, curated by Dr. Nicole Rousmaniere, opened September 27 in San Francisco at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. The exhibition features some 700 rarely seen original drawings by 11 major artists ranging from the 1970s to today. The exhibition explores manga as a powerful medium for visual storytelling, highlighting themes across genres, such as friendship, sexuality, and the human condition. The installation, designed to show how manga is made, follows the journey of drawings from the hand of an artist to the printing presses. For more information, click here.

Until January 25, 2026

The Japan Society presents Chiharu Shiota: Two Home Countries, an exhibit commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Shiota’s work typically features cobweb-like installations with found objects. This first New York solo exhibition explores wartime experiences and memories such as humanity, loss and national identity. The exhibition also documents the conceptualization behind Shiota’s stage set design for Japan Society’s theater commission Kinkakuji (Temple of the Golden Pavilion), which will premiere on the opening night of the exhibition. For more information, click here.

Until February 2, 2026

The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco is presenting New Japanese Clay, an exhibition of contemporary Japanese ceramics from the collection of Dr. Phyllis Kemper and Dr. David Stein of San Francisco. Playful colors, gravity-defying shapes, and contemporary sculptures from 29 different artists exhibit dynamic approaches to the medium of clay. For more information, click here.

Until May 3, 2026

At Yale University, the Beinecke Rare Book Library has organized Textured Stories: Chirimen Books of Modern Japan, an exhibition that introduces the history, production and legacy of chirimen-bon, the illustrated crepe-paper books produced between the 1880s to 1950s for Japanese learners of foreign languages. About 70 pieces, drawn from three separate collections on the Yale campus are included in the exhibition at Beinecke Library. For related programs, see Lectures, above. For more information, click here. See also: https://beinecke.library.yale.edu.

Until May 24, 2026

The Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College has a busy fall exhibition schedule that includes Shining Prints: The Tale of Genji Reimagined in Japan, an exhibition of prints with two different modes of artistic interpretation; the first group reflects the early 12th century illustrations of the tale, and a second featuring 18th and 19th century prints that recontextualized images and themes into contemporary settings. For more information, click here.

Until December 2026

National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, is presenting Knotted Clay: Raku Ceramics and Tea, featuring tea bowls, water containers and other vessels in the museum’s permanent collection that demonstrate the glazes and forms unique to Raku ware. More information here.

Until July 12, 2027

From the deep collections of the Seattle Art Museum, Ash-Glazed Ceramics from Korea and Japan, 34 vessels spanning ancient Korean gray wares to Japanese vessels from medieval to contemporary periods, illustrate the profound historical and technological exchanges between Korea and Japan in the realm of pottery. For more information, click here.