Kyoto Netsuke Museum Seisou: July Exhibition "Netsuke Traveling Through Time"

The Kyoto Netsuke Museum Seisou, a museum specializing in netsuke with a focus on contemporary pieces, is holding special exhibitions.

From July to September 2026, the special exhibition "Netsuke are Time Travelers" will be held. Contemporary netsuke can freely express fantastical worlds and stories, and can be called time travelers that can move freely between time and place. The concept of traveling through time has existed in Japan since ancient times, with Japan's oldest tales such as "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" and "Urashima Taro" also featuring time travel as a theme. In current anime and manga, concepts like isekai reincarnation, where characters are reborn with entirely different personalities, or sometimes transform into non-human beings, have expanded the notion of time travel to include parallel worlds and time leaps. Now, let's embark on a journey through time with netsuke.

"Netsuke are Time Travelers" Exhibition

We introduce some of the netsuke exhibited in the July exhibition, "Netsuke Traveling Through Time."

In July, under the theme "Netsuke Traveling Through Time," we will feature captivating key figures from various eras, as depicted in netsuke. Opening the door to a time machine that freely traverses the timelines of the present, past, and future, you might witness ancient dinosaurs awakening from slumber, witness the love stories of glamorous nobles from the Heian period, see warlords from the Sengoku period jostling for position, be moved by the fervor of the Edo period, or be astonished by future evolution. Stepping into worlds different from reality, the truths of the eras will approach you with a sense of presence. Why not become a witness to history by contemplating eternal romance and feeling the rise and fall of empires while traveling through time, thus freeing yourself from the everyday?

"Fragment of Time"

Artist: Ippuu Wachi (1970-)

Size: 4.4 cm (height)

Material: Ivory

Description: From a series depicting the passage of seasons through the life of a single woman, this piece represents the summer of her youth. Summer is a season full of passionate and open charm. The innocence of youth captured in a time capsule.

"Fragment of Time"

"Nap"

"Nap"

Artist: Akie Takayama (1932-)

Size: 2.0 cm (height)

Material: Ivory

Description: The "Dream of邯鄲" (Kantan no Yume) is a story about a young man who dreams of fifty years of prosperity while using a pillow borrowed from a hermit. This work is an adaptation of that story, depicting both a woman and a cat time-traveling in a dream.

"Reviving Fossil"

Artist: Yoka Mukouda (1968-)

Size: 3.7 cm (height)

Material: Black persimmon wood, buffalo horn

Description: Black persimmon wood refers to persimmon wood that has developed a black color after hundreds of years of growth, considered a rare wood found in one in ten thousand trees. Utilizing its coloring, this piece contrasts ancient strata fossils with a waking dinosaur.

"Reviving Fossil"

Medusa vs. Perseus

"Medusa vs. Perseus"

Artist: Tetsuro Mori (1960-)

Size: 3.7 cm (height)

Material: Ivory

Description: If you could travel to the age of myths, you might witness this famous battle. However, if you meet Medusa's gaze, you will be turned to stone and unable to return to the present.

"The Three Wise Men"

Artist: Kukan Oikawa (1968-)

Size: 4.4 cm (height)

Material: Ivory, tortoiseshell

Description: This piece satirically depicts a monkey priest, a monkey musician, and a monkey adventurer, each "mischievously" interfering with the others, embodying the proverb "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil." A premonition of humanity's future?

The Three Wise Men

About Kyoto Netsuke Museum Seisou

The Kyoto Netsuke Museum Seisou was established in Kyoto, the cultural capital, based on the initiative of Muneaki Kinoshita, Honorary Chairman of Sagawa Printing Co., Ltd., who wished "to preserve Japan's good traditions in Japan, by Japanese hands." This is the only museum in Japan specializing in netsuke. Our museum, guided by the principles of "new challenges" and "bonds" (宗 - Mune, which also forms part of the founder's name), aims to inherit, create, and develop netsuke and the culture surrounding it. As a museum open to the community and everyone, our mission is to "showcase," "nurture," and "connect."

Operated as part of Sagawa Printing's cultural support activities, the museum opened in September 2007. It is housed in the "Former Kanzaki Residence," a designated tangible cultural property of Kyoto City, which uniquely combines the characteristics of a samurai residence and a Kyoto townhouse, and is one of the few such structures remaining in Kyoto City. Approximately 400 contemporary netsuke are exhibited here.

Kyoto Netsuke Museum Seisou

46-1 Kagyogoshocho, Nishi-cho, Naka-kyo-ku, Kyoto City

https://www.netsukekan.jp/

Sagawa Printing Co., Ltd.

[Contact for this matter] Sagawa Printing Co., Ltd. Sales Planning Office (Public Relations) TEL: 075-934-8010 E-mail: sp-eigyokikaku@spcom.co.jp