Exhibitions

Special Exhibitions

100th Anniversary of the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum
Edo in Focus: Japanese Treasures from the British Museum

July 25 (Sat) – October 18 (Sun), 2026

Founded in London, England in 1753, the British Museum is one of the world's great museums. Its collection of Japanese art is said to be one of the most comprehensive outside of Japan in quality as well as quantity. People’s enduring fascination with the culture of Japan, a foreign land far beyond the seas, has been the force driving the collection’s expansion since the late 19th century, when Japonisme became a craze. Connections built by collectors and curators that reached across borders and decades have been passed down to this day.
This exhibition will showcase selected masterpieces from the British Museum’s some 40,000-piece Japanese collection with a focus on Edo-period paintings on folding screens (byobu), hanging scrolls (kakejiku), and handscrolls (emaki), as well as prints by eight renowned ukiyo-e artists including Utamaro, Sharaku, Hokusai, and Hiroshige. By also shedding light on recent research findings and the collection’s history, the exhibition will trace the British Museum’s role at the forefront of the collection, research, and conservation of Japanese art. It will, in this way, present opportunities to look back on the history of international cultural exchange and, at the same time, open a new dialogue between we who live today and Japanese art masterpieces in the care of the British Museum.

Highlights

1. From the museum of the world, the British Museum. Japanese art masterpieces with a focus on Edo Period paintings!
After highlighting the five key figures who laid a foundation for the British Museum’s Japanese collection, the exhibition reveals its extraordinary breadth and depth through Japanese artworks of all genres.
2. Arriving in Japan—Numerous works in their first “homecoming” from England. Plus, works garnering considerable attention in recent years
Making a homecoming will be such works as Mother tiger carrying three cubs across a river by Maruyama Okyo and Fireflies, a collaboration by Prince George (the future King George V of the United Kingdom) and Kubota Beisen that records their playful cultural exchange. Also featured—Tracing of a painting from wall no. 9 in the kondō (golden hall) of Hōryū-ji temple and other artworks that have garnered attention due to recent research findings.
3. Prints by 8 renowned Edo-period ukiyo-e artists. Plus, rare hand-painted masterpieces by Utamaro, Hokusai, Kyosai, and others!!
The ukiyo-e prints at the British Museum boast world-class quality among Japanese art collections abroad. Over 100 ukiyo-e prints centered on 8 great artists will be exhibited along with many precious hand-painted works by artists such as Kitagawa Utamaro, Chobunsai Eishi, Katsushika Hokusai, and Kawanabe Kyosai.
4. A series of fusuma (sliding-door) paintings miraculously reunited across the sea after some 150 years!
A series of Kano school sliding-door panels from the late Momoyama to early Edo period. Richly decorated with gold and silver, all the paintings glow luminously and dissolve into their surrounding space. Recent research has identified the two sets of sliding-door panels—one held by the British Museum and the other preserved by the Miyakoshi family, an old family in Nakadomari Town, Aomori Prefecture—as a single continuous bird and flower painting series. Making a special appearance, along with the Aomori door panels, is a set of panels from the Seattle Art Museum related to the set from the British Museum. With this, paintings split between Aomori, London, and Seattle are being reunited for the first time.

Information

Period: July 25 (Sat) – October 18 (Sun), 2026

Venue: Exhibition Rooms

Closed: Mondays, October 13, (Open the Mondays of Aug. 10, Sep. 21, Oct. 12)

Hours: 9:30 – 17:30 (Last admission 17:00), Fridays 9:30 – 20:00 (Last admission 19:30)

Admission

General ¥2,300 (¥2,100) ／ College students ¥1,300 (¥1,100) ／ Seniors 65+ ¥1,600 (¥1,400)

・（　）　Advance tickets.
・Visitors 18 years old or younger and students of high-school grade or lower will be admitted free.
・College students and vocational school students will be admitted free weekdays for a limited period from July 28th (Tue) – August 7th (Fri).
・The 3rd Saturday and the following Sunday of every month are family friendship days. So parents (up to 2 residents living in Tokyo) with children under the age of 18 are half the price of the general regular fee(please show the one that shows the address.) Only available at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum ticket counter.
・Admission free for visitors (and one accompanying person) with a Physical Disability Certificate, Intellectual Disability Certificate, Rehabilitation Certificate, Mental Disability Certificate or Atomic Bomb Survivorʼs Certificate.
・Visitors 18 and younger, High-school and College students, seniors 65 and older, and visitors with certificates are asked to show identification.

Resale of admission tickets for this exhibition is strictly prohibited. The museum accepts no responsibility for any inconvenience or loss caused by the illegal resale of tickets.

Organized by: Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum operated by Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture, The British Museum, The Asahi Shimbun, NHK, NHK Promotions Inc.,

Supported by: International UKIYO-E Society, British Council

Sponsored by: SUMITOMO MITSUI BANKING CORPORATION, MITSUMURA PRINTING Co., Ltd., Sumitomo Realty & Development, TAKENAKA CORPORATION

In Cooperation with: JAPAN AIRLINES

Special WEB Site: https://daiei-ten2026.exhibit.jp/english.html

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