Kan'ei: Beauty Nurtured by Peace

Closes this week19 September 2026 – 15 November 2026¥1,800

For the 400th anniversary of Emperor Go-Mizunoo's 1626 visit to Nijo Castle, a survey of early-Edo Kan'ei culture: screens, swords and Kano paintings.

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On now All of November 2026

Two hand-painted scrolls, shown publicly for the first time, follow the 1626 procession that carried Emperor Go-Mizunoo to Nijo Castle: about 9,000 people over roughly 3 km. You can read rank off the robes, black for the fourth court rank, pale blue or red for the fifth.

The route opens on a digital reconstruction of the Osaka Winter Campaign screen, then moves to the castle itself: wall paintings, nail covers and chrysanthemum-crest roof tiles dug up on site. The third floor holds the culture that outlasted the politics, including Kobori Enshu's letters saying, in effect, "sending shrimp" and "sending matsutake". Four centuries on, a box of matsutake is still the Kyoto October gift that needs no note.

Works rotate: first half to 18 October, second from 20 October. Of the famous swords, Honebami Toshiro left on 2 October and Futasujihi Sadamune shows from 17 October. Tickets are ¥1,800, including the permanent galleries and Film Theatre. Fridays run to 19:30, with curator talks at 18:30 on 16 October and 13 November.

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Built around Emperor Go-Mizunoo's 1626 visit to Nijo Castle: folding screens, swords and Kano paintings from the early-Edo Kan'ei era. The works change halfway through the run. Nijo Castle itself is about twenty minutes' walk west.

Look for

The Kan'ei Imperial Visit scrolls
Two hand-painted scrolls, on public view for the first time, follow the 1626 procession, with robe colours marking rank: black for the fourth, pale blue or red for the fifth.
Nijo Castle's own wall paintings
Kano Jinnojo's tigers in a bamboo grove, from the castle's Tozamurai hall, hang until 18 October; Kano Sanraku's pine and hawk from the Ohiroma replaces them from 20 October.
The ox-carriage screen
The Sannai-zu screen shows a procession of ox carriages moving from Nijo Castle to the Imperial Palace, on view for the whole run.
Karasumaru Mitsuhiro's farewell poem
A death verse by the man called the great charmer of the Kan'ei era; the story goes he stopped after four lines, revived, and finished it.
Kobori Enshu's food letters
Letters between the tea master and the Goto family that amount to "sending shrimp" and "sending matsutake".