[Autumn/Winter 2026] Recommended Exhibitions in Kyoto, Osaka, Nara and Hyogo: The Shosoin Exhibition, Zen and Ghibli, The Tale of Genji and More

In autumn 2026, major exhibitions of Japanese art overlap in the Kansai region. The Kyoto National Museum’s special exhibition “The Tale of Genji: The Radiance of the Court” runs until November 29. “The 78th Annual Exhibition of Shosoin Treasures” opens at the Nara National Museum on October 24, and the British Museum exhibition opens at the Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka on the 31st. This article introduces 13 exhibitions in Kyoto, Osaka, Nara and Hyogo, either on view now or opening by March 2027, along with their dates and prices.

“Zen and Ghibli” at the Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art runs until December 6, and from December 17 the museum begins a Hakuin exhibition that it positions as the second part. The Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka holds the “NHK Nichiyo Bijutsukan 50 Years Exhibition” and the British Museum exhibition at the same time. In 2027, a Maruyama Okyo exhibition opens at the Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts and “New! Ukiyo-e Exhibition: Genius Artists of the Late Edo and Meiji Periods” at the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art. At Daigo-ji in Fushimi, Kyoto, the commemorative autumn special exhibition “National Treasure: Prayers in 100,000 Items” is on view at the Reihokan until December 6 (article on the additional National Treasure designation of the Daigo-ji Documents and Sacred Texts).

Japanese art: the Shosoin exhibition, The Tale of Genji and Edo painting from the British Museum

[Ended] The 78th Annual Exhibition of Shosoin Treasures (Nara National Museum)

According to the Imperial Household Agency, the 78th Annual Exhibition of Shosoin Treasures presents 67 items, 12 of which are treasures shown for the first time. They include the “Lacquered Ewer,” the “Kogebachiru no Kishi” and “Kongebachiru no Kishi” (red- and indigo-stained engraved ivory go stones) and the “Box with Mitsuda-e Painting No. 14.” Viewing generally requires buying a timed-entry ticket in advance, and evening entry slots have a “Late Discount.” The museum is open every day during the exhibition, and until 20:00 on Fridays, weekends and national holidays.

Dates: Saturday, October 24 – Monday, November 9, 2026
Venue: Nara National Museum (East and West Wings)
Admission: Timed-entry tickets: adults 2,000 yen, high school and university students 1,500 yen, elementary and junior high school students 500 yen (Late Discount: adults 1,500 yen, high school and university students 1,000 yen, free for elementary and junior high school students)

Special Exhibition “The Tale of Genji: The Radiance of the Court” (Kyoto National Museum)

From the National Treasure “Illustrated Tale of Genji” (Tokugawa Art Museum), “Hashihime” is shown from November 3 to 15 and “Yadorigi III” from November 17 to 29, both at the Kyoto venue only. In the first period (until November 1), Tawaraya Sotatsu’s National Treasure “Sekiya and Miotsukushi Screens” (Seikado Bunko Art Museum) is also on display. From January 19, 2027, the exhibition travels to the Tokyo National Museum.

Dates: Tuesday, October 6 – Sunday, November 29, 2026 (second period from November 3)
Venue: Kyoto National Museum, Heisei Chishinkan Wing
Admission: Adults 2,200 yen, university students 1,200 yen, high school students 700 yen (same-day). Free for junior high school students and younger

The British Museum Collection of Japanese Art: Hyakka Ryoran – Edo Painting Across the Sea (Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka)

The exhibition presents a selection centered on Edo painting from the British Museum’s Japanese collection of some 40,000 items. Prints by eight ukiyo-e artists and paintings by Hokusai, Utamaro, Kyosai and others are on display, and some works are said to be returning from Britain for the first time. Katsushika Hokusai’s block-ready drawings for “The Great Picture Book of Everything” and Maruyama Okyo’s “Tigress Crossing a River with Her Cubs” screens are also exhibited.

Dates: Saturday, October 31, 2026 – Sunday, January 31, 2027
Venue: Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka (4th-floor gallery)
Admission: Adults 2,300 yen, high school and university students 1,400 yen, elementary and junior high school students 500 yen (same-day)

NHK Nichiyo Bijutsukan 50 Years Exhibition (Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka)

Through rarely seen program footage and artworks, the exhibition presents more than 140 works by about 60 artists. Ranging from Jomon pottery to contemporary art, it includes Tetsuya Ishida’s “The Man Who Could No Longer Fly” and Tsukioka Yoshitoshi’s “One Hundred Aspects of the Moon: The Yugao Chapter from The Tale of Genji.” Ito Jakuchu’s “Stone Lanterns” screens and Fukumi Shimura’s “Maihime” are shown only at the Osaka venue.

Dates: Saturday, October 10 – Sunday, December 20, 2026
Venue: Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka (5th-floor gallery)
Admission: Adults 2,000 yen, high school and university students 1,200 yen, elementary and junior high school students 500 yen (same-day)

Zen and Ghibli (Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art)

“Zen and Ghibli” is an experiential exhibition that introduces Zen ways of seeing through Studio Ghibli films. Centered on the film “The Boy and the Heron” (2023), it presents famous lines, scene stills, calligraphy by Toshio Suzuki and more. It links the films’ ambiguity and open spaces with the Zen ideas of “not dividing,” “not judging” and “seeing things as they are.” From Saturday, October 31, it switches to a reservation-priority system.

Dates: Saturday, October 3 – Sunday, December 6, 2026
Venue: Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art, New Wing, Higashiyama Cube
Admission: Adults and university students 1,900 yen, junior high and high school students 1,500 yen, elementary school students 1,100 yen (same-day)

Hakuin’s Zen, Planned and Produced by Studio Ghibli, Kyoto Exhibition (Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art)

This art exhibition presents works by the Rinzai Zen monk Hakuin Ekaku combined with video content. The museum positions it as the second part of “Zen and Ghibli.” Works listed include Hakuin Ekaku’s “Lotus Pond Kannon” (Edo period, 18th century, Seiso Memorial Museum).

Dates: Thursday, December 17, 2026 – Monday, January 11, 2027 (national holiday) (closed December 28 – January 2)
Venue: Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art, New Wing, Higashiyama Cube
Admission: Adults and university students 1,700 yen, junior high and high school students 1,100 yen, elementary school students 700 yen (same-day)

Western art, crafts and contemporary art: Wyeth, Rodin and Gutai, Lucie Rie

Andrew Wyeth Exhibition (Abeno Harukas Art Museum)

According to the organizers, 15 of the 100 works on display are shown in Japan for the first time, and this is the first retrospective in Japan since the artist’s death. It is also billed as “the first large-scale touring exhibition in 17 years.” Taking as clues the windows and doors that often appear in Wyeth’s work, it focuses on “boundaries,” such as those between inside and outside, self and other, and life and death. The second period started on Wednesday, November 4.

Dates: Saturday, October 3 – Sunday, December 6, 2026
Venue: Abeno Harukas Art Museum (Abeno Harukas 16F)
Admission: Adults 2,200 yen, university and high school students 1,800 yen, junior high and elementary school students 500 yen (same-day)

National Museum of Art Collection Dialogue: Matsukata Kojiro × Tokutaro Yamamura, A Passion for Collecting – Rodin to Japan, Gutai to the World (Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art)

From the Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art come modern works such as Rodin’s sculptures, and from the Yamamura Collection of the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, postwar avant-garde art centered on the Gutai Art Association. It is the first time the two collections have been shown together, with a special focus on Rodin’s “The Gates of Hell.”

Dates: Saturday, October 10 – Sunday, December 27, 2026
Venue: Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art (1F galleries)
Admission: Adults 1,800 yen, university students 1,200 yen, 70 and over 900 yen. Free for high school students and younger

[Ended] Special Exhibition “Aki Sasamoto: Laboratory” (National Museum of Art, Osaka)

Sasamoto builds installations in space and presents her works as “events” that change over time. The exhibition reconstructs her 2025 exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, adding works from the National Museum of Art, Osaka’s collection and more. Performances during the run, including “E_O” and “Yield Point,” are scheduled from October 30 to November 1.

Dates: Sunday, July 19 – Tuesday, November 3, 2026 (national holiday)
Venue: National Museum of Art, Osaka (B3 gallery)
Admission: Adults 1,800 yen, university students 1,200 yen. Free for high school students and younger and those under 18

Special Exhibition “Where Words Overlap” (National Museum of Art, Osaka)

Focusing mainly on places regarded as border zones in Asia, the exhibition looks at places where languages, ethnicities, cultures and ideologies intersect. It presents video, images and words connected with them through works by 16 artists and groups, including Kenshichi Heshiki, Motoyuki Shitamichi, Cao Fei, Chikako Yamashiro, Ilya Kabakov and Kei Imazu.

Dates: Tuesday, December 1, 2026 – Sunday, March 14, 2027
Venue: National Museum of Art, Osaka (B3 gallery)
Admission: Adults 1,800 yen, university students 1,200 yen. Free for high school students and younger and those under 18

Lucie Rie: Graceful Vessels Connecting East and West (Abeno Harukas Art Museum)

The exhibition introduces forms that combine suppleness and tension, vividly colored glazes, and sgraffito and inlay. Works by Bernard Leach, Hans Coper, Shoji Hamada and others with whom she had ties are also shown.

Dates: Saturday, December 26, 2026 – Sunday, March 7, 2027
Venue: Abeno Harukas Art Museum
Admission: Adults 1,800 yen, university and high school students 1,400 yen, junior high and elementary school students 500 yen (same-day)

Opening in 2027: the Maruyama Okyo exhibition and the New! Ukiyo-e Exhibition

Maruyama Okyo: Beyond the Real – A Spatial Revolution (Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts)

The exhibition travels from the Edo-Tokyo Museum (November 28, 2026 – January 24, 2027). The Osaka showing does not require reservations, and some works are changed during the run. The Tokyo showing is introduced in our guide to exhibitions in Tokyo.

Dates: Saturday, February 6 – Sunday, April 4, 2027
Venue: Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts
Admission: Not yet posted on the official website (as of October 19, 2026)

New! Ukiyo-e Exhibition: Genius Artists of the Late Edo and Meiji Periods (Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art)

The exhibition introduces the role ukiyo-e played from the end of the Edo period into the Meiji era, under the influence of Westernization and Western modes of expression. It is built around works by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Tsukioka Yoshitoshi and others, with the cooperation of the Asai Collection. It has been announced in the museum’s annual schedule.

Dates: Saturday, March 20 – Sunday, May 23, 2027
Venue: Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art
Admission: Not yet posted on the official website (as of October 19, 2026)

Nighttime pleasures: Nijo-jo Castle, Heian Jingu, Kodaiji, the Osaka Festival of the Lights and Kobe Luminarie

From the autumn foliage season into winter, light events staged at castles, temples, shrines and streets are also held. The three in Kyoto run from late October through December. The Osaka Festival of the Lights began on November 3, and Kobe Luminarie on January 29, 2027.

• NAKED meets Nijo-jo Castle 2026 runs from Friday, October 23 to Saturday, December 5, from 18:00 to 22:00. On the theme of Tokugawa Masako, it expresses her aesthetic sensibility through projection mapping and staging with light, sound and fragrance. Admission is 2,000 yen Monday to Thursday and 2,400 yen on Fridays, weekends and holidays.

• Heian Jingu’s WONDER NIGHT JINGU – Gekka – runs from Monday, November 2 to Sunday, November 29, from 17:30 to 21:30. It is an immersive night walk with autumn leaves and light, themed on the 130th anniversary of the shrine’s founding.

• Kodaiji’s autumn night special viewing runs from Friday, October 23 to Sunday, December 13. The lights come on at 17:00, and admission ends at 21:30.

• The Osaka Festival of the Lights 2026 runs from Tuesday, November 3 (national holiday) to Sunday, January 31, 2027. The Midosuji Illumination (until December 31) divides its 4 km length into five areas, each expressing a different era.

• The 32nd Kobe Luminarie runs from Friday, January 29 to Sunday, February 7, 2027, at Meriken Park, Higashi Yuenchi and the former Foreign Settlement. Part of the Meriken Park venue requires paid admission (advance tickets 500 yen on weekdays, 750 yen on weekends).

Check by closing date

Exhibitions closing in 2026
Tuesday, November 3 (national holiday): Aki Sasamoto exhibition (National Museum of Art, Osaka)
Monday, November 9: Shosoin exhibition (Nara National Museum)
Sunday, November 29: The Tale of Genji exhibition (Kyoto National Museum)
Sunday, December 6: Zen and Ghibli exhibition (Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art) / Wyeth exhibition (Abeno Harukas Art Museum)
Sunday, December 20: Nichiyo Bijutsukan 50 Years exhibition (Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka)
Sunday, December 27: Collection Dialogue exhibition (Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art)

Exhibitions closing in 2027
Monday, January 11 (national holiday): Hakuin exhibition (Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art)
Sunday, January 31: British Museum exhibition (Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka)
Sunday, March 7: Lucie Rie exhibition (Abeno Harukas Art Museum)
Sunday, March 14: Where Words Overlap exhibition (National Museum of Art, Osaka)
Sunday, April 4: Maruyama Okyo exhibition (Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts)
Sunday, May 23: New! Ukiyo-e Exhibition (Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art)
*Information as of October 19, 2026. Please check the official websites for the latest information.

Frequently asked questions

When can I see the National Treasure “Illustrated Tale of Genji”?

At the Kyoto National Museum, “Hashihime” is shown from November 3 to 15 and “Yadorigi III” from November 17 to 29, both at the Kyoto venue only. The Tokyo National Museum’s page for the Tokyo showing (from January 19, 2027) features the National Treasure “Illustrated Tale of Genji: Kashiwagi III.”

Which exhibitions require reservations?

The Shosoin exhibition generally requires buying a timed-entry ticket in advance. If slots are available, same-day tickets are also sold at a special window on the museum grounds. “Zen and Ghibli” switches to a reservation-priority system from October 31, and when crowded, visitors without reservations may not be able to enter. The Maruyama Okyo exhibition at the Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts does not require reservations.

Which exhibitions have evening openings?

The Shosoin exhibition at the Nara National Museum is open until 20:00 on Fridays, weekends and national holidays. The Tale of Genji exhibition at the Kyoto National Museum, the British Museum exhibition at the Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka and the National Museum of Art, Osaka are open until 20:00 on Fridays, and the National Museum of Art, Osaka offers a night discount from 17:00 to 20:00 on Fridays. The Abeno Harukas Art Museum is open until 20:00 from Tuesday to Friday.

Which art fair is held in Kyoto in November?

The art fair “Art Collaboration Kyoto (ACK) 2026” is held from Saturday, November 7 to Monday, November 9, at the Kyoto International Conference Center and other venues. See also our article on ACK and our November art event calendar.

*Top image: Hakuin Ekaku, “Rat and Daikoku,” with the artist’s own inscription, Shinshoji (from a press release by Nippon Television Network Corporation)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on official announcements by each organizer and facility (as of October 19, 2026).

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team