Special exhibition
“The Wonderful World of Cats in Ukiyo-e:
Cats Depicted by Renowned Ukiyo-e Artists of the Edo and Meiji Periods
– Kuniyoshi, Hiroshige, Kunisada, Toyokuni, Eisen and More”
July 27 (Sat.) to September 8 (Sun.), 2019.
*Closed on Tuesdays.
Overview of the exhibition
The Osaka Museum of History will hold a special exhibition titled “The Wonderful World of Cats in Ukiyo-e: Cats Depicted by Renowned Ukiyo-e Artists of the Edo and Meiji Periods – Kuniyoshi, Hiroshige, Kunisada, Toyokuni, Eisen and More” in the Special Exhibition Hall on the 6th floor from July 27 (Sat.) to September 8 (Sun.), 2019.
Recently, cats have been gaining unprecedented popularity in Japan. Cats are believed to have been brought to Japan from the continent to get rid of rats, and by the Edo period, they had become part of people’s lives as much beloved pets. Cats were a favored motif of ukiyo-e artists, who depicted cats along with beautiful women in bijin-ga (portraits of beautiful women), a popular genre of ukiyo-e. In ukiyo-e, cats come in various guises, personified as kabuki actors in yakusha-e (actor prints) and playful characters in omocha-e (toy prints) at times, and depicted as scary monsters in others.
This exhibition will showcase works of ukiyo-e-artists each with distinctive style, including Utagawa Kuniyoshi, a doting cat lover, as well as Hiroshige, Kunisada, Toyokuni and Eisen, to shed light on how people were associated with cats and what images they had of cats. In a special exhibition section, old documents about handling domestic cats and a clay figure of cat dating back to the Edo period will be displayed.
| “The Wonderful World of Cats in Ukiyo-e: Cats Depicted by Renowned Ukiyo-e Artists of the Edo and Meiji Periods – Kuniyoshi, Hiroshige, Kunisada, Toyokuni, Eisen and More” |
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| Organizers | Osaka Museum of History; NHK PlanNet, Inc. Kinki Branch Office | ||||||||||||
| Supporting organization | Japan Broadcasting Corporation Osaka Station | ||||||||||||
| Supervisor | Inagaki Shinichi (Executive Director, International Ukiyo-e Society) | ||||||||||||
| Planning cooperation | STEPeast | ||||||||||||
| Exhibition period | July 27 (Sat.) to September 8 (Sun.), 2019. *Closed on Tuesdays. |
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| Hours | 09:30-17:00 (Fridays during the exhibition period 09:30-20:00) *Please enter 30 minutes prior to closing. |
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| Venue | Special Exhibition Hall on the 6th floor, Osaka Museum of History access | ||||||||||||
| Admission fees |
*The fees in brackets indicate prices for those in groups of 20 people or more. *Admission is free for junior high school-aged and younger children (a document certifying citizenship and age should be presented); and individuals with a disability certificate (plus one accompanying person). |
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| Number of exhibits | Approx. 170 | ||||||||||||