National Treasure “Ban Dainagon Emaki” Shown in Full for the First Time in 10 Years; Idemitsu Museum of Arts 60th Anniversary Exhibition at the Geidai Museum in March 2027

“Gems of the Idemitsu Collection at Geidai,” commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, will be held in Galleries 1–4 of the Main Building of The University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts (Ueno, Tokyo) from Saturday, March 27 to Sunday, May 23, 2027. It is organized by Tokyo University of the Arts and the Idemitsu Museum of Arts and co-organized by The Tokyo Shimbun. Marking the 60th anniversary of the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, which opened in 1966, it displays works selected from the museum’s collection of Japanese and East Asian art. The National Treasure “Ban Dainagon Emaki” will be shown in its entirety for the first time in 10 years. Admission is 1,800 yen for adults.

Why at Geidai? The Idemitsu Museum of Arts is closed for the rebuilding of the Teigeki Building

The Idemitsu Museum of Arts was located in the Teigeki Building in Marunouchi, Tokyo. According to the museum’s notice, it entered a long-term closure on December 25, 2024, because of the rebuilding of the building. It plans to reopen at the same location after the rebuilding but has not said when.

During the closure, on May 13, 2025, it opened the “Idemitsu Museum of Arts Gallery” in the same building as the Middle Eastern Culture Center Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo, where it introduces its ceramics collection in four displays a year. In 2026, exhibitions of the collection were also held at the Okura Museum of Art (February–March) and the Edo-Tokyo Museum (August–September), and the Okazaki City Museum in Aichi is showing “Singing the Four Seasons: Masterpieces from the Idemitsu Museum of Arts,” commemorating the city’s 110th anniversary and the museum’s 30th, until November 29. The 60th anniversary exhibition, too, will be held not at the museum’s own closed premises but at the Geidai museum in Ueno.

Highlights: the complete Ban Dainagon Emaki and nine Important Cultural Properties

According to the introduction of the Idemitsu Museum of Arts’ 2006 exhibition “National Treasure Ban Dainagon Emaki” in “Art Commons,” the exhibition database of The National Art Center, Tokyo, the Ban Dainagon Emaki is a set of three handscrolls from the Heian period. The museum has shown every scene of all three scrolls in milestone years, and the 2006 exhibition was the fourth such full display. The display period this time had not been announced as of October 19.

Of the 20 main works listed in the press release, the Ban Dainagon Emaki is the National Treasure, and nine are Important Cultural Properties. The Important Cultural Properties include “Kakinomoto no Hitomaro,” from the Satake version of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets, attributed to Fujiwara no Nobuzane; Noami’s “Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons” screens; and the “Illustrated Biography of Saigyo,” painted by Tawaraya Sotatsu with text by Karasumaru Mitsuhiro. Yosa Buson’s “Landscape” screens, Ike no Taiga’s “Landscapes of the Twelve Months” screens and Kitagawa Utamaro’s “Beauty Changing Clothes” are also Important Cultural Properties.

Ito Jakuchu’s “Birds, Animals and Flowering Plants” screens, Sengai’s “Circle, Triangle and Square,” Sakai Hoitsu’s “Wind God and Thunder God” screens, Suzuki Kiitsu’s “Cherry and Maple Trees” screens and Hasegawa Tohaku’s “Crows on a Pine and Herons on a Willow” screens are also on view. Extending to Hazan Itaya’s “Vase with Flower Design in Hoko Glaze,” Georges Rouault’s “The Passion” and Sam Francis’s “White Line,” the exhibition brings together works that shaped the history of the collection. Works will be changed between the first and second periods, but the display periods of individual works, the total number of exhibits and the chapter structure have not been announced. Gallery talks are also planned during the run.

Tickets, prices, opening hours and access

Admission is 1,800 yen for adults and 1,200 yen for high school and university students, and free for junior high school students and younger. The start date of advance ticket sales has not been announced. Opening hours are 10:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30), and the museum is closed on Mondays (open on Monday, May 3, a national holiday).

The University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts is a 10-minute walk from the Park Exit of JR Ueno Station and from Exit 1 of Nezu Station on the Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line, and a 15-minute walk from the Main Exit of Keisei Ueno Station and from Exit 7 of Ueno Station on the Tokyo Metro Hibiya and Ginza Lines. There is no parking.

Editor’s perspective

The Idemitsu Museum of Arts is not the only museum that opened in 1966. The Yamatane Museum of Art in Hiroo also opened that year and is holding its 60th anniversary special exhibition “The Best of the Yamatane Collection” until March 7, 2027. In Tokyo in spring, the run overlaps with “1,300 Years of the Beauty of Japanese Calligraphy” (March 25 – May 16) at the Museum of the Imperial Collections, Sannomaru Shozokan and the Tokyo National Museum’s special exhibition “National Treasures: All About Miidera” (April 20 – June 13), making it a season of back-to-back Japanese art exhibitions in Ueno and around the Imperial Palace. Other museums’ schedules are introduced in our 2027 exhibition schedule.

Overview

Name: Gems of the Idemitsu Collection at Geidai, Commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the Idemitsu Museum of Arts
Dates: Saturday, March 27 – Sunday, May 23, 2027 (display changes between the first and second periods)
Hours: 10:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30)
Closed: Mondays (open on May 3)
Venue: The University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts, Main Building, Galleries 1–4
Address: 12-8 Ueno Park, Taito-ku, Tokyo
Admission: Adults 1,800 yen, high school and university students 1,200 yen, junior high school students and younger free
Organizers: Tokyo University of the Arts, Idemitsu Museum of Arts
Co-organizer: The Tokyo Shimbun
Official website: https://museum.geidai.ac.jp/exhibit/2027/03/idemitsu2027.html
*Information as of October 19, 2026. Please check the official website for the latest information.

*Top image: The University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts, 2009 (photo: Wiiii, CC BY-SA 3.0, from Wikimedia Commons)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on an announcement by the Idemitsu Museum of Arts (September 11, 2026), a press release from Tokyo University of the Arts and the Idemitsu Museum of Arts (October 2026) and information on the official websites.

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team