“A Giant at the Edge of the Kumui: Kenshin Yamashiro” at Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum Until March 28; A Full Portrait of the Educator and Artist

The Art Museum Collection Gallery special exhibition “A Giant at the Edge of the Kumui: Kenshin Yamashiro” is on view at the Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum (Naha) until Sunday, March 28, 2027. Kenshin Yamashiro (1937–2023) is an indispensable figure in any discussion of postwar Okinawan art and is also known as an educator who practiced clay modeling education at a special needs school. The exhibition presents a full portrait of him from perspectives such as “education,” “form-making,” “spirituality,” “primal landscapes” and “relationship with Okinawa’s postwar history.” Admission is 400 yen for adults.

A brief profile of Kenshin Yamashiro

According to the museum, Yamashiro practiced art education that valued the feel of materials and bodily sensation. In clay modeling with children at a special needs school, he emphasized physicality. He later trained younger artists at Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts.

As an artist, he explored the memory of Okinawa and bodily sensation using familiar materials. The museum says the exhibition presents Yamashiro’s education, form-making and spirituality comprehensively. Its English title is “Yamashiro Kenshin: A Giant Living with KUMUI.”

What can visitors see? 49 works from the 1950s to 2016

The museum’s list of works includes 49 pieces. Early works include a “Self-Portrait” from the 1950s, followed by “Fish A” and “Fish B” (1960) and “Crab” (1963) from the 1960s, and “Work IV” (1974) from the 1970s. The 1980s include “Ruri, Kagero” (Lapis, Mayfly) (c. 1982) and “Swamp: To Those Not Yet Born” (1988). The most recent is the “KURU series” from 2016.

Series from the early 1990s account for many of the works on the list, including “With Silent Bones” (1–4, 1991), “Beginning to Surface from the Water’s Edge” (1991), “Relations Between Self and Other Around the Marsh” (I–IV, 1992) and “Linked Verses of Water” (1–6, 1992).

“Garden of Silence” (1992), introduced on the exhibition page, is made with acrylic and oil pastel on panel. “With the First Cry: Fear in the Depths” (1997) is mixed media on paper. Quite a few works on the list are described as “title unknown” or “untitled.”

The venue is Collection Galleries 1 and 2 and the foyer. Photography is allowed, but the video and photographs in the corridor of Collection Gallery 1 cannot be photographed for copyright protection. The order of the list may not match the display order, and exhibits may change.

Why Kenshin Yamashiro now? Seen alongside “The Flow of Okinawan Art”

During the same period, “The Flow of Okinawan Art: resonant” is on view in Collection Gallery 3. It introduces the course of Okinawan art from before the war, through the postwar period and the years around the reversion to Japan, to the present, using the museum’s collection. Admission is shared, and one ticket gives access to all of Collection Galleries 1 to 3.

It consists of five chapters, including “The Foundations of Postwar Okinawan Art: Centered on the Activities of Nishimui,” “Art Trends Around the Reversion: Correlations with Social Conditions” and “A Turning Point in Representation: The Formation of Uchinaa Identity.” The 38 exhibiting artists include Masayoshi Adaniya, Aijun Nadoyama, Keiichi Yamamoto, Tsuguharu Foujita and Michiko Uehara. Together with this exhibition, which also reads Yamashiro in relation to Okinawa’s postwar history, it allows visitors to place him within the flow of postwar Okinawan art.

From December 1, the museum side will also open the special exhibition “Shurijo Castle: The Royal Castle of Ryukyu,” a fiscal 2026 project commemorating the completion of the Shurijo Castle Main Hall.

Related events, prices and access

At the start of the run, poet and critic Ben Takara gave an opening gallery talk (September 19). The talk events “Talking About Kenshin Yamashiro” (September 20 and 27) featured video artist and artist Chikako Yamashiro, art critic Naoki Onaga and Michio Sakima, director of the Sakima Art Museum, among others.

On Friday, October 30, from 18:00 to 19:00, there is a curator talk by Ai Tomiyama, the chief curator in charge of the exhibition. It takes place in Collection Galleries 1 and 2 and the foyer, and a same-day Collection Gallery ticket is required. Participation is first come, first served on the day.

Admission is 400 yen for adults, 220 yen for university and high school students and 100 yen for junior high and elementary school students from outside the prefecture. Groups of 20 or more pay 320 yen for adults, 180 yen for university and high school students and 80 yen for junior high and elementary school students from outside the prefecture. Junior high and elementary school students from within the prefecture and preschool children are free. Those aged 70 and over, and holders of a disability certificate and one caregiver, are also free (ID required).

Opening hours are 9:00–18:00 (until 20:00 on Fridays and Saturdays; last entry 30 minutes before closing). The museum is closed on Mondays but opens on November 23, January 11, 2027 and March 22. It is also closed on Tuesday, November 24, Tuesday, December 29 to Sunday, January 3, Tuesday, January 12 and Tuesday, March 23.

The museum is in Omoromachi, Naha, about a 10-minute walk (about 15 minutes at a leisurely pace) from Omoromachi Station on the Yui Rail. From Naha Airport Station to Omoromachi Station takes about 19 minutes, and the fare is 320 yen. It is about a 1-minute walk from the “Kenritsu Hakubutsukan-mae” bus stop, and there is free parking (158 spaces for general vehicles).

Overview

Name: Art Museum Collection Gallery Special Exhibition “A Giant at the Edge of the Kumui: Kenshin Yamashiro”
Dates: Saturday, September 19, 2026 – Sunday, March 28, 2027
Hours: 9:00–18:00 (until 20:00 on Fridays and Saturdays; last entry 30 minutes before closing)
Closed: Mondays (open on September 21, October 12, November 23, January 11 and March 22), September 24, October 13, November 24, December 29 – January 3, January 12, March 23
Venue: Art Museum Collection Galleries 1 and 2 and foyer, Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum
Address: 3-1-1 Omoromachi, Naha, Okinawa
Admission: Adults 400 yen, university and high school students 220 yen, junior high and elementary school students (from outside the prefecture) 100 yen (groups of 20 or more: adults 320 yen, university and high school students 180 yen, junior high and elementary school students (from outside the prefecture) 80 yen). Free for junior high and elementary school students from within the prefecture, preschool children, those aged 70 and over, and holders of a disability certificate and one caregiver
Organizer: Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum
Cooperation: Hatsuko Yamashiro, Sayaka Oshiro
Official website: https://okimu.jp/exhibition/artmuseum202609/
*Information as of October 20, 2026. Please check the official website for the latest information.

*Top image: Exterior of the Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum (photo: 663highland, CC BY 2.5, from Wikimedia Commons)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on information on the Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum official website (as of October 20, 2026).

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team