Kansai · KyotoCultural
Around 200 prints by Utagawa Kuniyoshi — warriors, monsters, cats and jokes — fill the Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art for two months this summer.
Overview
Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797–1861) was one of the last great designers of ukiyo-e, and the most inventive. He is best known for enormous, densely worked warrior prints, but he also produced caricature, visual puns, cats dressed as people, and compositions that break across all three sheets of a triptych.
This exhibition, titled in Japanese 浮世絵スーパークリエイター 歌川国芳展 (“Ukiyo-e Super Creator: Utagawa Kuniyoshi”), gathers roughly 200 works arranged into six genre groupings.
It is a good fit for visitors who are curious about ukiyo-e but tired of the same handful of famous landscape prints. Kuniyoshi is loud, funny and strange, and the work reads well even without Japanese.
When and Where
The exhibition runs from 18 July to 23 September 2026 at the Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art, in the Main Building, North Wing, first floor. Opening hours are 10:00 to 18:00, with last admission at 17:30.
The museum is closed on Mondays, except when Monday is a public holiday — it opens on Monday 20 July and Monday 21 September. The address is 124 Okazaki Enshoji-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto.
What to Expect
The show is organised by genre rather than chronology, so you move between very different moods as you go.
- Named works on display include “Soma no Furudairi”, with its giant skeleton spanning the full width of a triptych.
- The satirical print “Mikake wa Kowai ga Tonda Ii Hito da” — a face built out of human bodies — is included.
- “Sonomama Jiguchi Myokaiko Gojusan-biki” recasts the fifty-three stations of the Tokaido as visual puns performed by cats.
- Sections cover warrior prints, caricature and parody, bijin-ga, actor prints and landscapes.
- An immersive video room presents Kuniyoshi imagery as 3DCG animation and projection mapping built from more than fifty prints.
Tickets and Admission
Adult admission is 1,900 yen at the door, or 1,700 yen in advance and for groups of 20 or more. High school and university students pay 1,400 yen (1,200 yen advance), and elementary and junior high school students pay 700 yen (500 yen advance). Preschool children enter free.
Holders of a disability certificate, plus one accompanying carer, are admitted free. Two limited advance products were offered: a pair ticket at 3,000 yen (1,000 sets) and a ticket packaged with an “Ofuki” Kyo-yuzen cloth at 2,800 yen (1,000 sets).
Tips for Visitors
- Come on a weekday morning if you can — the immersive video room bottlenecks on weekend afternoons.
- Kuniyoshi rewards close looking; the warrior triptychs hide small jokes and details that are easy to walk past.
- The museum sits in Okazaki Park, a few minutes from Heian Jingu, the Kyoto Municipal Zoo and the National Museum of Modern Art, so it slots easily into a half-day.
- Check the closure calendar before travelling: the museum shuts on most Mondays but stays open on 20 July and 21 September.
Access and Map
| Dates | 18 July – 23 September 2026, 10:00–18:00 (last entry 17:30), closed Mondays |
|---|---|
| Venue | Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art, Main Building North Wing 1F |
| Address | 124 Okazaki Enshoji-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto |
| Access | City bus to Okazaki Koen Bijutsukan / Heian Jingu-mae; the museum is at the stop |
| Admission | Adults 1,900 yen; students 1,400 yen; elementary and junior high 700 yen; preschoolers free |
| Official site | kyotocity-kyocera.museum |
Source: Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art
Image: Photo: Tokyo-Good / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 — license
