“Taisho ⇆ Reiwa Avant-Garde” Opens December 4 at Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art; From Tetsugoro Yorozu to Etsuko Ichihara

“Taisho ⇆ Reiwa Avant-Garde” opens at the Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art (Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture) on Friday, December 4, 2026, and runs until Sunday, May 16, 2027. The exhibition sets works by artists active in northern Tohoku, centered on Aomori, in the Taisho era, when the word “avant-garde” came into use in Japan, alongside works by contemporary artists of the Reiwa era. Through works by Tetsugoro Yorozu, Shiko Munakata, Junzo Kon and others, and by Etsuko Ichihara, Haruka Komori + Natsumi Seo and others, it considers the “avant-garde” of each era.

Why set Taisho and Reiwa side by side now?

The museum regards the Taisho era as the period when the foundations of modern life took shape. Compulsory education spread, and school enrollment and literacy rates had risen to nearly 100% by 1926. Ideas of democracy and liberalism spread through the currents of Taisho Democracy, and radio broadcasting began in 1925. Through mass media, people learned about world affairs and formed shared values and collective memories.

In the Reiwa era, by contrast, sharing information on social media has become mainstream, and anyone can broadcast. The museum points out that online communities close in on themselves among people with the same values, giving rise to “division.” The exhibition presents contemporary artists’ engagement with memory and records as one of the “avant-gardes” of our time.

The exhibition takes as a clue the Tsugaru dialect word “ipadada,” which describes people or things that are a little out of the ordinary. The museum sees the very act of aspiring to be a Western-style painter in Taisho-era Aomori as an avant-garde endeavor. The museum building, too, is a brick structure built as a sake brewery in the Meiji and Taisho eras and used as a cider factory after the war. Renovated by the architect Tsuyoshi Tane, it opened as a contemporary art museum in 2020.

Highlights: artists of northern Tohoku in the Taisho era

The Taisho-era artists named include Gosei Abe, Ryo Okawa, Yoshito Ikeda, Junzo Kon, Shotaro Konishi, Kibachiro Shimozawa, Uichi Takayama, Hana Hashimoto, Kinji Haba, Gozaburo Fukuda, Chuzo Matsuyama, Shiko Munakata and Tetsugoro Yorozu. Through them, the museum explores the “avant-garde” of the time.

• Tetsugoro Yorozu (1885–1927): From Iwate. After graduating from the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, he returned to his hometown of Tsuchizawa (now Towa-cho Tsuchizawa, Hanamaki City) and, away from the Tokyo art world, immersed himself in formal exploration. His “Self-Portrait in a Pointillist Manner” (c. 1912, Iwate Museum of Art) is exhibited.

• Shiko Munakata (1903–1975): From Aomori City. Intensely admiring Van Gogh, he formed the Western-style painting group “Seikogasha” with friends in Aomori and studied painting on his own.

• Junzo Kon (1893–1944): Born in Hirosaki. After the Great Kanto Earthquake he returned to Aomori and accompanied his brother Wajiro Kon on his “modernology” surveys, recording the customs of his home region. He also laid the foundations of art education in Aomori. His “Balalaika” (1919, Hirosaki City Museum) is exhibited.

What can be seen? Four Reiwa-era artists and the museum’s collection

The Reiwa-era artists are four individuals and groups with ties to Tohoku. The museum introduces them as artists who engage with society at a time when “grand narratives” are being lost.

• Etsuko Ichihara: Born in Aichi Prefecture in 1988 and based in Tokyo, she interprets Japanese culture and beliefs through technology. Works introduced include “Namahage in Tokyo” (2017, Etsuko Ichihara + ISID Innovation Lab) and the “Digital Shaman Project” (2015–), which deals with memories of the deceased using humanoid robots.

• Haruka Komori + Natsumi Seo: A unit that began working together after volunteering in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake. They have woven the memories of places by retelling individual experiences and feelings. They exhibit “Double Layered Town / Songs of Four Journeys” (2020, collection of the artists).

• Tsuyoshi Izumida: Born in Hirosaki in 2001. Based in Tokyo and Hirosaki, he dismantles buildings that have lost their roles and makes new monuments from them, seeking to leave them as ruins of the future. “Dismantling and Memory” (2025, collection of the artist) is shown.

• Mako Odaira: Born in Kuroishi in 1995 and based in Akita Prefecture, she creates paintings based on photographs taken in daily life, questioning the accuracy of personal memory. “Dining Table” (2026, collection of the artist) is shown.

From the museum’s collection, works by Yosuke Amemiya, Aki Sasamoto and Naoya Hatakeyama are exhibited. Aki Sasamoto’s “Spirits Cubed” (2020) is a large installation commissioned by the museum and first shown at its opening exhibition in 2020. Made using windows and doors from the building’s days as a brewery and warehouse, it was also selected for the National Center for Art Research’s “100 Artworks to See in Japan” (“Contemporary Art in Japan” category).

Sasamoto is also introduced in our article on her solo exhibition at The National Museum of Art, Osaka. Some works will be changed during the run.

Tickets, prices and access

Admission is 1,600 yen for adults and 1,000 yen for university and vocational school students, and free for high school students and younger (tax included). Hirosaki residents who show proof of address pay 1,000 yen (adults) and 500 yen (university and vocational school students) (cannot be combined with other discounts). International students in Hirosaki, Hirosaki residents aged 65 and over, holders of the Hirosaki Large Family Support Passport, and people with disabilities and one companion are also admitted free. The ticket also covers the concurrent “Collection Exhibition 2026–2027.”

Opening hours are 9:30–17:00 until February 28 and 9:00–17:00 from March 1, with last entry 30 minutes before closing. The museum is closed on Tuesdays but open on February 23, April 13, 20 and 27, and May 4. It is also closed from Saturday, December 26 to Friday, January 1, on Wednesday, February 24 and on Thursday, May 6.

It is about a 20-minute walk or about 7 minutes by taxi from JR Hirosaki Station. On the Konan Bus Dotemachi Loop Bus, board at stop “D100” at the Central Exit of Hirosaki Station, ride 9 minutes to “Naka-Dotemachi” and walk 4 minutes. The museum has no parking; using one of the designated parking lots gives 100 yen off admission (up to two people).

Frequently asked questions

Are there related events?

On Saturday, December 5, from 13:00 to 14:00, Tsuyoshi Izumida and Mako Odaira will give an artist relay talk in the galleries (free; exhibition ticket required; no application needed). Curator-led tours are held from 14:00 to 14:30 on Saturday, December 12, and on Saturdays, January 9, February 13, March 13, April 10 and May 8, 2027 (meet in front of the 1st-floor reception; exhibition ticket required; no application needed).

On Sunday, March 14, 2027, a screening of the film “Under the Wave, on the Ground” (2014, 68 minutes), directed by Haruka Komori + Natsumi Seo, and a talk by the two are planned. On Saturday, April 24, Emiko Tsushima, former curator at the Aomori Prefectural Museum, will give a talk, “Painters of Aomori in the Taisho Era (provisional).”

Is there a concurrent collection exhibition or a catalogue?

The “Collection Exhibition 2026–2027,” running for the same period, focuses mainly on new acquisitions and features five artists: Hiroshi Sugito, Aoi Nagasawa, Yoshitomo Nara, Mika Ninagawa and Kazunari Hattori. The exhibition’s official catalogue is scheduled for publication during the run.

Editor’s perspective

The exhibition links regional artists of the Taisho era and contemporary artists through the single word “avant-garde,” featuring artists who, like Tetsugoro Yorozu and Shiko Munakata, pursued their expression somewhere other than Tokyo. The question is how the works respond to the museum’s framing: a Taisho era in which mass media created shared memories, and a Reiwa era in which social media breeds division.

Elsewhere in Aomori Prefecture, “Steve Bishop: Three Films about Buildings” opens at Towada Art Center on December 5, and Lieko Shiga’s solo exhibition is on view at the Aomori Museum of Art. For an exhibition setting the postwar avant-garde alongside a contemporary artist under the keyword “metamorphosis,” “Yuasa Ebosi and Fables of Metamorphosis in the Postwar Avant-Garde” is on view at the Nerima Art Museum in Tokyo until December 27.

Overview

Name: Taisho ⇆ Reiwa Avant-Garde
Dates: Friday, December 4, 2026 – Sunday, May 16, 2027
Hours: 9:30–17:00 (until February 28), 9:00–17:00 (from March 1); last entry 30 minutes before closing
Closed: Tuesdays (open on February 23, April 13, 20 and 27, and May 4), Saturday, December 26 – Friday, January 1, Wednesday, February 24, Thursday, May 6
Venue: Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art
Address: 2-1 Yoshino-cho, Hirosaki City, Aomori Prefecture
Admission: Adults 1,600 yen, university and vocational school students 1,000 yen, high school students and younger free (tax included; rates for Hirosaki residents available)
Organizer: Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art
Sponsors: Starts Corporation Inc., Obayashi Corporation, NTT Facilities, Inc.
Concurrent exhibition: Collection Exhibition 2026–2027
Official website: https://www.hirosaki-moca.jp/exhibitions/avant-garde/
*Information as of October 19, 2026. Please check the official website for the latest information.

*Top image: Exterior of the Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art building [the former Yoshino-cho Brick Warehouse] before renovation, April 2016 (photo: Rengasoko-bu, CC0, from Wikimedia Commons)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on press materials from the Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art (September 18, 2026) and information on its official website.

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team