Kyoto Seishu Netsuke Art Museum (清宗根付館) is a museum devoted to introducing netsuke, with a focus on contemporary netsuke, and holds special exhibitions. Its November "Autumn Masterpieces" (「秋の名品」) exhibition presents the free and new challenges taken on by netsuke artists.
To nurture the next generation of netsuke artists, the museum nominates works with excellent ideas and advanced technique every year and presents the Golden Netsuke Awards to the best work. As the years go by, the artists have competed with one another and produced increasingly refined works.
Netsuke are described as "an art of chic and wit" (「粋と洒落の芸術」), with a generous, approachable character nurtured by the aesthetic sense of popular culture. They hold laughter and humor that enrich daily life, carry a gentle kindness that quietly stays close to people in sorrow, and have at times given energy for tomorrow. Works that fully show this charm have gathered again this year, and the sight of many artists competing with their highly skilled works is truly a spectacle of a hundred flowers in full bloom (百花繚乱).
"Hyakka Ryoran! The World of Netsuke" Exhibition (『百花繚乱！根付の世界』展)
About the Golden Netsuke Awards
The Golden Netsuke Awards are the museum's largest event of the year (see the note below). To pass on netsuke culture and encourage free, new challenges by contemporary artists, an awards ceremony has been held every year since 2014. The Grand Prix is decided by the foundation's officers from among the new works by contemporary artists. Aiming for the Grand Prix, the artists work enthusiastically on their pieces, applying ingenuity and trying to introduce new approaches.
Note: The award is given to works with outstanding overall technique and ideas among the new netsuke works exhibited at the museum.
Works on Display
Here is a selection of the netsuke on display at the November "Autumn Masterpieces" exhibition, introducing works by artists who keep taking on challenges that carry on the times while looking to the future.
Jigoku Dayu (地獄太夫)
- Award: THE GOLDEN NETSUKE AWARDS Grand Prix
- Artist: 栗田 元正 (born 1976)
- Size: Height 3.3 cm
- Material: Whale tooth
A courtesan of the Muromachi period who called herself Jigoku Dayu (Hell Courtesan), saying, "Misfortunes in this world come from poor Buddhist practice in a past life." She is said to have embroidered hell on her robes, invoked the Buddha in her heart, and sung elegant songs with her voice.
Hon, Deai (本、出合い)
- Award: THE GOLDEN NETSUKE AWARDS Grand Prix
- Artist: 山本 伊多呂 (born 1961)
- Size: Height 5.1 cm
- Material: Boxwood
A book is an encounter with the unknown. Whether they come from a foreigner far away or a great figure of the past, sequences of words carried on the boat of a book are delivered across time and space.
A-Ai (A愛)
- Award: THE GOLDEN NETSUKE AWARDS Excellence Award
- Artist: 髙木 喜峰 (born 1957)
- Size: Height 5.5 cm
- Material: Deer antler, hybrid opal, aluminum
What kind of future awaits when robots, whose technology has advanced at a remarkable pace, hold the forbidden fruit symbolized by the apple of Adam? The robot's face is shaped like a heart, symbolizing love.
Kagayaki (輝き)
- Award: THE GOLDEN NETSUKE AWARDS Special Award
- Artist: 黒岩 明 (born 1949)
- Size: Height 2.0 cm
- Material: Asama boxwood (朝熊黄楊), lacquer, ivory
The grand theme of looking at Earth from a galaxy tens of thousands of light-years away is condensed into the size of a netsuke. Various techniques are employed.
Hanuman (ハヌマーン)
- Award: THE GOLDEN NETSUKE AWARDS Special Award
- Artist: 岡本 百々 (born 1984)
- Size: Height 5.5 cm
- Material: Deer antler
Hanuman is a monkey god of Indian mythology. Because he was an all-round warrior who could change the size of his body, carried various weapons, and could fly through the sky, he is said to have later become the model for Sun Wukong (孫悟空).
Venue Information
- Venue: Kyoto Seishu Netsuke Art Museum (清宗根付館)
- Address: 46-1 Mibu Kayagosho-cho (壬生賀陽御所町), Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto
- Official website: https://www.netsukekan.jp/
The museum opened in September 2007. Approximately 400 contemporary netsuke are displayed in the former residence of the Kanzaki family (旧神先家住宅), a Kyoto City-designated tangible cultural property. The residence of a gōshi (upper-class farmer), it combines the features of a samurai residence and a Kyoto townhouse (machiya), and is one of the few such buildings remaining in Kyoto.
