Hara Museum ARC

This exhibition will feature scroll paintings that were once partition paintings (shohekiga) made by artists of the Kano school that decorated the Nikko-in guest hall at Mi’idera (Onjoji) Temple in Shiga prefecture. The businessman Hara Rokuro (1842-1933) acquired the Nikko-in and moved it to his estate in Gotenyama (present-day Kitashinagawa in Shinagawa ward, Tokyo) in 1892. The structure was subsequently donated to Gogokuji temple (in Bunkyo ward, Tokyo) in 1928 where it still stands as the Gekko-den, an Important Cultural Asset. The wall paintings were converted into hanging scrolls and one pair of six-fold screens. These paintings comprise the core of the Hara Rokuro Collection. The exhibition will be divided into two parts. Assembly at the Orchid Pavilion, which once adorned the Oku no Ma (room) of the Nikko-in, will be featured in Part I, and Tiger in a bamboo grove and Birds and flowers, which once adorned the Shimo no Ma (room), will be displayed in Part II. Designed in the traditional shoin style of Japanese architecture, the Kankai Pavilion provides a viewing experience similar to that of the paintings’ original setting.

Featured Works
Traditional Art: [Part I] Scene based on an old Chinese anecdote “Assembly at the Orchid Pavilion”, part of paintings used for wallpaper and sliding doors at Nikko-in guest hall in Mi′idera temple, Kano school, hanging scroll and six hanging scrolls, Momoyama – Edo period /Writing box with scenes from the eight views of Oumi in maki-e, Edo period and others [Part II] Writing box with scenes from the eight views of Oumi in maki-e, Kano Eitoku, hanging scroll and four hanging scrolls, Momoyama period / Birds and flowers, attributed to Kano school, four hanging scrolls, Momoyama-Edo period and others Contemporary Art: Anish Kapoor, Void, 1992 / Yayoi Kusama, ″iida Art Editions YAYOI KUSAMA Hand Bag for Space Travel″, 2009 / Yayoi Kusama, ″iida Art Editions YAYOI KUSAMA My Doggie Ring-Ring″, 2009 and others