Seido in Ninna-ji
Official website: Seido in Ninna-ji | Yumeshima Organization to Create New Industry and City
The nihonga (Japanese-style painting) group Seido began its activities in 2017, focusing primarily on gallery exhibitions, and relaunched in 2022 with an emphasis on displaying large-scale works. The group now continues its activities with 15 members, mainly emerging artists working energetically across different universities and organizations. This time, through a special connection, eight of the group's members will hold an exhibition at the Kuroshoin of Ninna-ji.
Forms of expression and venues for nihonga are becoming increasingly diverse, and interpretations of nihonga itself vary widely. Amid this landscape, the group aims to question the meaning that comes from continuing to exhibit as a collective, choosing to focus on the act of "painting" and confronting their own expression, rather than being caught up in external evaluation or surface-level technique.
Exhibition Details
- Dates:
- Early period: September 1 (Tue) to September 10 (Thu), 2026
- Late period: September 11 (Fri) to September 20 (Sun), 2026
- Venue: Kuroshoin, within the Gosho Garden of World Heritage site Ninna-ji, head temple of the Shingon Omuro school (33 Omuro Ouchi, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto)
- Organizer: Yumeshima Organization to Create New Industry and City
- Special cooperation: World Heritage site Ninna-ji, head temple of the Shingon Omuro school
- Admission: Free (a ¥1,000 admission fee for the Ninna-ji Gosho Garden is required; free for high school students and younger)
Exhibiting Artists
Early period: September 1 (Tue) to September 10 (Thu), 2026
- 池上真紀
- 岩井晴香
- 北島文人
- 三好温人
Late period: September 11 (Fri) to September 20 (Sun), 2026
- 木岡史
- 北川咲
- 監物紗羅
- 清水葉月
About the Venue: World Heritage Site Ninna-ji
The history of Ninna-ji began in the second year of the Ninna era (886), when Emperor Koko, the 58th emperor, vowed to build a temple to be called "Nishiyama Gogan-ji." He passed away the following year, and Emperor Uda, the 59th emperor, carried on his predecessor's wishes, completing the temple in the fourth year of Ninna (888). Members of the imperial family served as the head priests (monzeki) of Ninna-ji generation after generation until the end of the Edo period, and the temple held the highest status among monzeki temples. In the Showa era, Ninna-ji became the head temple of the Shingon Omuro school, and in 1994 it was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The temple grounds are lined with structures such as the five-story pagoda and the Nio-mon gate, built during the Edo period, and the Omuro cherry trees planted around the same time reach full bloom in mid-April, presenting the same appearance today as they did at the time, just like the buildings themselves.
Official website: https://ninnaji.jp/
About the Japan Annual-International Art Festival
Under the mission of "co-creating art, design, science, technology, and the economy — conveying Japan's beauty and spirit to the world and creating the future," the Japan Annual-International Art Festival has been held since 2023, based in Kyoto, the thousand-year capital and cultural capital, with the aim of connecting all of Japan and the world. Starting with its first edition in 2023 centered on the cultural capital Kyoto, the festival expanded its field for its second and third editions, with the Osaka-Kansai Expo venue as its main site, reaching across the Kansai region to western Japan.
The 4th Japan Annual-International Art Festival will integrate the achievements and legacy of the 2025 3rd Japan Annual-International Art Festival and the Osaka-Kansai Expo, developing further into an international cultural creation platform that links Kyoto — home to the Agency for Cultural Affairs — at its core with Osaka, the Kansai region, and the rest of Japan and the world.
Over the three months from September 1 to November 30, 2026, the festival will once again be held in cooperation with cultural facilities such as museums across the country, universities, and companies, centered on major head temples and renowned shrines in Kyoto.
Official website: 4th Japan Annual-International Art Festival | Yumeshima Organization to Create New Industry and City
