iNezu MuseumMinami-Aoyama
Bugaku Costumes: The Enduring Beauty of Textiles
Special exhibition of lavish Bugaku court-dance costumes from temples and shrines including Amano-sha and Rinnoji, some shown for the first time in decades.
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Karyōbin costumes in red and blue from Rinnōji in Tochigi are on view for the first time in four decades. The colours are a code: red marks dances of Chinese origin, blue those from the Korean Peninsula.
The show gathers bugaku court dance costumes from the 14th to the 17th centuries, with paintings showing how each piece was worn. You start at the Maie, a scroll of dances from before bugaku split into left and right. A ryōtō woven with gold peonies was offered to Amano-sha in 1378 and is the oldest gold-brocade ryōtō to survive complete. It still holds its peonies; the fleece you bought in 2019 already pills.
Gallery 1 holds the Amano-sha and Shitennōji costumes, Gallery 2 the Rinnōji ones. Online timed tickets are ¥1,600 (¥1,800 at the door), students ¥700, high school and younger free. Same-day tickets may not be sold when it is busy. Closed Mondays except 23 November, the last day; open 10:00 to 17:00, last entry 16:30.
Editor's pick
Bugaku court-dance costumes lent by temples and shrines including Amano-sha and Rinnoji, some shown for the first time in decades.
Look for
Red and blue Karyōbin costumes
A red and a blue costume from Rinnōji in Tochigi, shown for the first time in four decades.
Peony ryōtō of 1378
A sleeveless deep blue tabard woven with gold peony scrolls and edged with tassels, lent by the Tokyo National Museum.
Rose and bridge suikan
A costume dated 1454 from Kongōbuji, embroidered with roses and a bridge.
Ryōō mask
A Kamakura-period mask crowned by a dragon with all four legs, carved from one block of cypress, with movable eyes and a hanging jaw.
Raryōō painting
A small 15th-century painting of a child dancing Raryōō without a mask, in a gold peony ryōtō over a red robe, showing how the pieces were worn.
Good for
- Nerding Out
- Out-Of-Town Guests
With kids
High-school age and younger enter free with ID.
Also at Nezu Museum
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Image credits
9
- Bugaku Costumes: The Enduring Beauty of TextilesCourtesy of Nezu Museum
- Masterpieces of the Renaissance from the Musée du LouvreCourtesy of The National Art Center, Tokyo
- Shojo Manga Infinity: Moto Hagio, Ryoko Yamagishi, and Waki Yamato(left) © Moto Hagio / Shogakukan (center) © Ryoko Yamagishi (right) © Waki Yamato / Kodansha
- Mariko Mori: All That ShinesCourtesy of Mori Art Museum
- Nezu MuseumKakidai / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- The National Art Center, TokyoAkonnchiroll / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Mori Art MuseumCharles Deluvio via Wikimedia Commons, CC0
- Suntory Museum of ArtWpcpey, CC BY-SA 4.0
- 21_21 DESIGN SIGHTDaderot, CC0