FY2020 Exhibitions


April 1 – October 4
December 5 – March 31

 

Permanent Exhibition: History of Kinokuni —People's Lives and Culture—

 

 

 

March 14 – April 19

Curated Exhibition: Calligraphic Works from the Edo Period —Brushstrokes of the People of Kinokuni—

April 25 – June 7

Special Exhibition: Kumano as a Land of Warriors —Samurai and Castles in Southern Kii Province—

June 13 – July 12

Curated Exhibition: Manago Yusen —Painter from Tanabe, Kii Province—

July 18 – August 23

Curated Summer Exhibition: Hamaguchi Goryo —Commemorating the 200th Birthday of the Hero of “The Fire of Rice Sheaves”—

August 29 – October 4

Curated Exhibition: Kitamura Susumu and Tokugawa Yorisada —People Who Fostered the Nanki Music Library—

October 17 – November 23

Special Exhibition: National Treasure Kokawa-dera Engi and the History of Kokawa-dera Temple —Celebrating the 1,250th Anniversary of the Temple’s Founding—

December 5 – January 24

Curated Exhibition: The Beauty of Folding Screens —Masterpieces from the Wakayama Prefectural Museum Collection—

January 30 – March 7

Curated Exhibition: Mountain of Prayer and Learning —Treasures from the Koyasan University Library Collection—

March 13 — April 18

Curated Exhibition: Illustrated Stories from Kinokuni

 

Permanent exhibition:
History of Kinokuni—Lives and Culture of Local People—

Tuesday, April 2–Sunday, October 6, 2019
Saturday, February 1–Tuesday, March 31, 2020


 This exhibition clearly illustrates the 30,000-year history of Kinokuni—present-day Wakayama Prefecture—focusing on the lives and culture of local people, in seven chronological sections. Each section also displays replicas you can touch. Please note that the permanent exhibition will not be on show during the period of the special exhibition “Tokugawa Yorinobu.”


←Photo of the permanent exhibition room at Wakayama Prefectural Museum

 

Curated exhibition: Calligraphic Works from the Edo Period
Saturday, March 14–Sunday, April 19, 2020


 In the Edo Period, calligraphic education permeated among not only domain lords and samurai, but also peasants and merchants. The effects of the education can be found in calligraphic works of classical Chinese poems and prose pieces, which were often written at that time. This exhibition sheds light on calligraphic works by people in Kinokuni in the Edo Period.


←Writing of a shichiritsu-style poem, by Gion Nankai (Wakayama Prefectural Museum)

 

Special Exhibition: Kumano as a Land of Warriors —Samurai and Castles in Southern Kii Province—
Saturday, April 25 to Sunday, June 7, 2020


 Behind its official status as a sacred place, Kumano in the Warring States Period was also a land of warriors in rivalry, including the priest clans of the Kumano Sanzan shrines and the Kumano navy. This exhibition features historical documents, excavated items, and surviving remains to explore the realities of samurai who were active in Kumano in the Warring States Period and their castles.


← Letter of enfeoffment from Hashiba Hidenaga (Wakayama Prefectural Museum)

 


Curated Exhibition: Manago Yusen —Painter from Tanabe, Kii Province—

Saturday, June 13 to Sunday, July 12, 2020


 Born to a powerful village-head family in Tanabe, Manago Yusen studied Kano-School painting in Kyoto. This exhibition showcases the charm of Yusen’s painting by displaying a huge number of sketches that show the process of his training as a painter, based on the results of a two-year joint research project with researchers from other institutions.


← Hawk by Manago Yusen, with a legend written by Gijo, chief priest of Kozan-ji Temple (from a private collection)

 

Curated Summer Exhibition: Hamaguchi Goryo —Commemorating the 200th Birthday of the Hero of “The Fire of Rice Sheaves”
2020Saturday, July 18 to Sunday, August 23, 2020


 Hamaguchi Goryo is known to have saved many people from tsunamis by burning the piles of rice sheaves as evacuation guides, and by building the Hiromura dike. Celebrating the 200th anniversary of his birth, this exhibition not only introduces his lifetime achievements but also explores the history of disasters in Wakayama Prefecture and “memories of disasters” of our predecessors.


← Festival at Hiro-Hachiman-jinja Shrine (Wakayama Prefectural Museum)


Curated Exhibition: Kitamura Susumu and Tokugawa Yorisada —People Who Fostered the Nanki Music Library—
Saturday, August 29 to Sunday, October 4, 2020


 Kitamura Susumu was a librarian at the Nanki Music Library. This exhibition spotlights the activities of Kitamura Susumu in Tokyo and Wakayama through letters, literary works and other materials, including ones related to Tokugawa Yorisada, Shimazaki Toson, and Tayama Katai, who had relationships with Kitamura.


_← Kitamura Susumu in his later years


Special Exhibition: National Treasure Kokawa-dera Engi and the History of Kokawa-dera Temple —Celebrating the 1,250th Anniversary of the Temple’s Founding—
Saturday, October 17, 2020 to Monday, November 23, 2020


 The year 2020 marks the 1,250th anniversary of the founding of Kokawa-dera Temple. This exhibition features Kokawa-dera Engi (lit. “Origin of Kokawa-dera Temple”), a representative Japanese picture scroll and a National Treasure, and introduces the religious culture of Kokawa-dera Temple and surrounding communities, as well as the reality of a temple estate, to shed new light on the ancient temple that still shares the light of Buddhism.


← Kokawa-dera Engi (from the collection of Kokawa-dera Temple)

 

Curated Exhibition: The Beauty of Folding Screens —Masterpieces from the Wakayama Prefectural Museum Collection—
2020Saturday, December 5, 2020 to Sunday, January 24, 2021


 Folding screens, used to divide rooms, are mostly decorated with paintings, calligraphic works, or a combination of them. Wakayama Prefectural Museum boasts a collection of various folding screens. This exhibition showcases remarkable Edo-period pieces from the collection.


← Folding screen depicting the Battle between the Genji and Heike Clans (Wakayama Prefectural Museum)

 

Curated Exhibition: Mountain of Prayer and Learning —Treasures from the Koyasan University Library Collection—
2021Saturday, January 30 to Sunday, March 7, 2021


 With cooperation from the Koyasan University Library, this exhibition displays Buddhist books, including scriptures and commentaries, that monks at Mt. Koya used to study, and other religious materials such as documents on the origin of temples, to spotlight different aspects of Mt. Koya as both a sanctuary and a place for learning.


← History of Mt. Koya (Wakayama Prefectural Museum)

 

Curated Exhibition: Illustrated Stories from Kinokuni
2021Saturday, March 13 to Sunday, April 18, 2021


 Kinokuni, or Wakayama Prefecture, boasts a wide variety of beautiful works, including picture scrolls, that illustrate stories about the history of temples or shrines, and other kinds of stories. This exhibition features a variety of illustrated stories while focusing on the culture of picture interpretation in Kinokuni.


← Picture scroll of the Origin of the Kumano Gongen Deities (Wakayama Prefectural Museum)

 

 

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