From Eery to Endearing: Yokai in the Arts of Japan

This exhibition gives a comprehensive introduction to Japan’s strange apparitions. At first, viewers are told about a wide variety of specters known to people in the Edo Period (1603-1867) that were drawn as original paintings on scrolls, as well as in multicolor woodblock prints. On display are the origins of specter images: “Night Parade of a Hundred Demons” a designated Important Cultural Property, which is an emaki scroll painting housed in Shinjuan temple in Kyoto, and “Hekija-e Shin-chu,” a national treasure painting housed in the Nara National Museum. There are also various masterpieces painted before the 17th century. The last section turns the spotlight on “Yokai Watch,” a popular TV program for children, along with dogu clay dolls in the Jomon Period, so that viewers can re-examine people’s curiosity that has been captured by unusual forms that transcended their eras..