Panoramic view of the Ninomaru-goten Palace buildings at Nijo Castle, Kyoto

Murals Adorning the Imperial Seat: Ichi-no-ma (First Room) of the Ohiroma

Ended10 September 2026 – 8 November 2026¥100

This exhibition has ended.

Original Kano murals from the Ohiroma's First and Second Rooms, where Emperor Go-Mizunoo watched Noh in 1626: pines, bamboo and golden pheasants, and soaring peafowl.

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On now All of November 2026

On the fourth day of Emperor Go-Mizunoo's 1626 visit, a Noh stage stood outside the Ohiroma, and the emperor watched from its Second Room behind bamboo blinds, the empress on his right and his mother on his left. Behind him, in the First Room's great alcove, was a huge old pine, with a set of three scrolls by Muqi hung in front of it.

These are the original walls of both rooms, 26 panels by Kano Tan'yu, hung behind glass in their palace order. You see the copies in the Ohiroma itself, then come here for the originals. On a normal day the Second Room was where visitors waited to see the shogun, so the best seat in Kyoto that afternoon was the waiting room.

The gallery is north of the Rest Area and costs 100 yen on top of castle admission (800 yen). It opens 9:00 to 16:30, but castle entry stops at 16:00. A separate display on preserving the murals runs at the same time. Closes 8 November.

Look for

The flying peacock
Look above the lintel on the Second Room's west wall for a peacock in flight, painted to watch over the imperial seat; the same pose, flipped, reappears as a carved phoenix in the palace transom.
The great pine of the First Room alcove
The north wall's huge old pine was the backdrop behind the emperor in 1626, when Muqi's three scrolls and other treasures were set out in front of it.
Pine and Peacocks (Matsu Kujaku-zu)
Tan'yu composed the Second Room so the pine-and-peacock scene still holds together on the remaining walls alone, since the doors to the corridor were taken out for the visit.