The Fukuoka City Museum will be hosting a special exhibition focused on ghost and yokai paintings from its collection, running from July 19 (Sunday) to September 13 (Sunday), 2026.
The exhibition is not about ghosts and yokai themselves, but about the paintings that depict them — exploring why these uncanny, otherworldly beings have been painted, displayed, and treasured throughout history. Beyond the artworks themselves, the exhibition also turns a lens on the artists, viewers, and collectors who surrounded them, revealing a deeply human story.
The Fukuoka City Museum holds one of Japan's finest collections of ghost and yokai paintings, with works by celebrated artists such as Ito Jakuchu and Kawanabe Kyosai. Around 100 carefully selected pieces will be on display, drawn primarily from the Edo-period holdings and including some more recent works. The lineup ranges from hauntingly beautiful to comically charming.
Exhibition Structure
Prologue: Welcome to the Other World
The prologue introduces visitors to skeletal and corpse imagery — not ghosts or yokai per se, but images many people find deeply unsettling — as a threshold into the world beyond.
Kusouzu / Nagasawa Rosetsu / Mid Edo Period
Act 1: The Heart of Yokai Paintings
"Yokai" refers to unexplained phenomena and the mysterious entities believed to cause them. People depicted their unseen fears in paintings as a way to understand them and ultimately transform them into something fascinating. Act 1 explores the diverse world of yokai paintings, showing how people shared their fears socially and gradually turned them into sources of entertainment.
- Expressing — Depicted Fears
- Understanding — Shared Knowledge of the Supernatural
- Playing — Invented Grotesqueries
Tsukumogami-zu / Ito Jakuchu / Mid to Late Edo Period
Hyakkai Zukan (detail) "Inugami / Nukekubi" / Sawaki Suushi / 1737
Sawaki Suushi / 1737
Soma no Furudairi / Utagawa Kuniyoshi / 1844–45
Act 2: The Heart of Ghost Paintings
"Yurei" (ghosts) are understood as the spirits of the deceased appearing in the form they held during life. While once categorized as a type of yokai in Edo-period encyclopedias, ghost paintings gradually became their own distinct genre. Act 2 covers beautiful ghost paintings, terrifying ghost paintings, and those that are sometimes poignant and sometimes comical, tracing the range of emotions and intentions woven into these depictions of human forms.
- Beautiful — Ghost Paintings for Commemoration and Remembrance
- Frightening — Ghost Paintings for Fear and Entertainment
- Amusing — Wit, the Living World, and the Expansion of Ghost Paintings
Yurei-zu / Attributed to Maruyama Okyo / Mid Edo Period
Epilogue: Goodbye, Until We Meet Again
The epilogue showcases ghostly imagery used in everyday life and that which appears during festival nights. Though society and ways of thinking have changed over time, these figures continue to linger at the boundary between the ordinary and the extraordinary.
Digital Content Collaboration
Interactive participatory digital content by anno lab — a Fukuoka-based creative lab — will be on display in connection with the exhibition concept.
Exhibition Details
- Title: Fukuoka City Museum Collection: Ghost and Yokai Painting Exhibition
- Dates: July 19 (Sun) to September 13 (Sun), 2026
- Hours: 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM (last entry 5:00 PM)
- Twilight Museum extended hours (until 8:00 PM, last entry 7:30 PM): Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays from July 24 to August 23, and Thursday, August 13
- Closed: Mondays (open July 20, Mon/Holiday; closed July 21, Tue)
- Venue: Fukuoka City Museum, Special Exhibition Room (3-1-1 Momochihama, Sawara Ward, Fukuoka City, 〒814-0001)
- Admission:
- General: ¥1,500 (advance ¥1,300)
- High school/University students: ¥800 (advance ¥600)
- Middle school and under: Free
- Advance tickets on sale May 22 (Fri) to July 18 (Sat)
- Groups of 20 or more: same rate as advance tickets
- Students must present a student ID at entry
- Holders of disability handbooks and one accompanying caregiver admitted free; the "Mirairo ID" disability handbook app is also accepted
- Includes admission to the permanent and planned exhibition galleries
- Tickets: Artne Ticket, Lawson Ticket (L-code: 84070), Seven Ticket, and others
Related Events
Summer Ghost Story Rakugo Performance
Scary rakugo storytelling suitable for all ages.
- Date: Saturday, July 25, 2026, 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM
- Storyteller: Tachibana Bunta
- Venue: Fukuoka City Museum, 1F Lecture Hall (capacity: 240)
- Admission: Free (exhibition ticket or stub required)
- No advance reservation needed; doors open at 1:30 PM on a first-come, first-served basis
Lecture: "Drawing the Invisible Fear — A History of Japanese Art and the Desire to See the Frightening"
- Date: Sunday, August 2, 2026, 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM
- Lecturer: Tanaka Keiko (Specially Appointed Associate Professor, Tokyo University of the Arts University Art Museum)
- Venue: Fukuoka City Museum, 1F Lecture Hall (capacity: 240)
- Admission: Free (exhibition ticket or stub required)
- No advance reservation needed; doors open at 1:30 PM on a first-come, first-served basis
Drawing Exhibition! Twilight Sketching Time
Visitors are welcome to find a favorite spot in the gallery and spend time sketching or copying artworks at their leisure. A lecture session by a professional instructor is also scheduled for each date.
- Dates: Sunday, July 26 and Sunday, August 23, 2026, 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM (drop-in and early departure welcome)
- Instructor: Tachiki Yoshie (Japanese Painter / Representative, Nono no Eshi) — present throughout each session
- Venue: Fukuoka City Museum, 2F Special Exhibition Room
- Drawing materials: pencils and colored pencils permitted; easels and folding chairs may be brought in
Gallery Talk by the Curator
The curator shares exhibition highlights and context.
- Date: Every Wednesday, 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM
- Meeting Point: Fukuoka City Museum, 2F Special Exhibition Room Entrance
- Admission: Free (exhibition ticket or stub required)
