Highlights of Japanese Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art

 

South Wind, Clear Sky, from Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, early 1830s. Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760–1849). Color woodblock print; 25.6 x 37.5 cm (10 1/16 x 14 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Edward L. Whittemore, 1930.189

 
 

Highlights of Japanese Art

December 7, 2025 — June 14, 2026

 

These galleries feature recent acquisitions in dialogue with treasures from the museum’s world-renowned collection of Japanese art. The impressive, large-scale Welcoming Descent of Amida with Twenty-Five Bodhisattvas from the mid-1300s is displayed alongside the important early 1300s handscroll The Illustrated Miraculous Origins of the Yūzū Nenbutsu School, which depicts Buddhists interacting with paintings of Amida in descent.

A diminutive sculpture from the 1100s of Gozu Tennō, the ox-headed plague deity, is on view with a large Buddhist sketch and an image of Zaō Gongen, the deity of Mount Kinpu, both also from the same period. Together, these works of art show how Buddhist iconography informed how other gods were represented.

Five small-scale Nabeshima dishes showcase the versatility of ceramists in northern Kyushu during the 1600s and early 1700s, while a complex pair of early 1600s screens depicts the arrival of European traders to the port city of Nagasaki.

 
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Exhibition Preview

 

Ichikawa Ebijūrō II as Horiguchi Manzaemon (right), Arashi Rikan II as Kizu Kansuke, Nakayama Bunshichi III as Hayashi Sanzemon (center), and Asao Gakujurō as the Ferryman Sanjūrō (left) from the Kabuki Play "Eight Views of the Kizu River by Boating Song", 1829. Shunshosai Hokuchō (Japanese, active 1822–1830). Triptych of color woodblock prints; each: 36.2 x 76 cm (14 1/4 x 29 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Edward L. Whittemore Fund, 1976.62

Welcoming Descent of Amida with Twenty-Five Bodhisattvas, mid-1300s. Japan, Nanbokuchō period (1336–92). Hanging scroll; ink, color, gold, silver, and cut gold on silk; painting: 164.5 x 137.7 cm (64 3/4 x 54 3/16 in.); mounted: 255 x 166.6 cm (100 3/8 x 65 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 2025.138

Zaō Gongen, 1200s. Japan, Kamakura period (1185–1333). Wood; average: 106.7 cm (42 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1973.105

The Courtesans Kasugano and Utahama of Tamaya, from Courtesans of the Pleasure Quarters in Double Mirrors, c. 1800. Kitagawa Utamaro (Japanese, c. 1754–1806). Color woodblock print; 39.1 x 26.1 cm (15 3/8 x 10 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Edward L. Whittemore, 1930.217

The Flirtatious Type, from Ten Types in the Physiognomy of Women, c. 1793. Kitagawa Utamaro (Japanese, c. 1754–1806). Color woodblock print; 36.9 x 25.4 cm (14 1/2 x 10 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Edward L. Whittemore, 1930.218

Zaō Gongen, 1100s. Japan, Heian period (794–1185). Gilt bronze with repoussé and incised details; overall: 25.8 x 17.8 cm (10 3/16 x 7 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund, 1986.47

Arrival of the "Southern Barbarians", c. 1600. Japan, Momoyama period (1573–1615). Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, and gold on paper; overall: 146.7 x 337.2 cm (57 3/4 x 132 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 1960.193

Haniwa Horse, 400s–500s CE. Japan, Kofun period (300–710 CE). Earthenware with traces of pigment; overall: 59.7 x 66 cm (23 1/2 x 26 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Norweb Collection, 1957.27

Dōtaku, 100–200 CE. Japan, Yayoi period (c. 300 BCE–300 CE). Cast bronze; overall: 97.8 x 48.9 cm (38 1/2 x 19 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Arthur St. John Newberry, 1916.1102

Sudden Shower over Shin-Ōhashi Bridge and Atake, from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, 1857. Utagawa Hiroshige (Japanese, 1797–1858). Color woodblock print; 35.3 x 23.2 cm (13 7/8 x 9 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift from J. H. Wade, 1921.318

Arashi Rikan II as Danshichi Kurōbei in "Mirror of Naniwa: The Summer Festival", 1832. Shunbaisai Hokuei (Japanese, d. 1837). Color woodblock print; 35.7 x 24.4 cm (14 1/16 x 9 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Edward L. Whittemore Fund, 1980.84

Tide-Changing Jewel with Dragon, early 1900s. Japan, Meiji period (1868–1912). Silver, shakudō (copper and gold alloy), and crystal; height with stand: 35.6 cm (14 in.); diameter: 20 cm (7 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Cornelia Blakemore Warner, 1947.682

Fire-flame Cooking Vessel (Ka'en Doki), c. 2500 BCE. Japan, Jōmon period (c. 10,500–300 BCE). Earthenware with carved and applied decoration; height: 61 cm (24 in.); diameter: 55.8 cm (21 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1984.68

Gozu Tennō (Ox-Headed Plague Deity), 1100s. Japan, Heian period (794–1185). Wood with traces of color; 22.5 x 18 x 9.6 cm (8 7/8 x 7 1/16 x 3 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Lillian M. Kern Memorial Fund, 2025.10

South Wind, Clear Sky, from Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, early 1830s. Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760–1849). Color woodblock print; 25.6 x 37.5 cm (10 1/16 x 14 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Edward L. Whittemore, 1930.189

Night Rain at Karasaki, from Eight Views of Ōmi, c. 1835. Utagawa Hiroshige (Japanese, 1797–1858). Color woodblock print; 24.4 x 36.8 cm (9 5/8 x 14 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith, 1985.312

Medicine Bottle, 1670s. Japan, Edo period (1615–1868). Porcelain with underglaze blue decoration; height: 41.3 cm (16 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Severance A. Millikin, 1966.514

A Low Tide Pentaptych, c. 1830. Utagawa Kuniyoshi (Japanese, 1797–1861). Pentaptych of color woodblock prints; each: 21.2 x 18.4 cm (8 3/8 x 7 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade, 1916.1108

 
News 16Editorial TeamArt of the Ancestors, Steven G. Alpert, Asian Art, Island Southeast Asian Art, Oceanic Art, Asiatica, Ethnographica, Ethnographic Art, Art Collection, Fine Art, Primitive Art, Indonesian Art, Tribal Art, Eyes of the Ancestors, Dr. Reimar Schefold