Shusui Museum of Art has built its collection and public programs around paintings and decorative arts from Japan’s medieval period through the present. In this exhibition, we present the profound spirituality and singular allure of Japanese art, and, in celebration of the New Year, we have selected works befitting the season for “Spring of Elegance.”

Highlights include Scenes from a Poetic Contest across Eras: Fujiwara no Toshiyuki and the Lady of Tango, a Kamakura-period painting that pairs poets from different times in an imagined uta-awase (poetry match); Kikujidō and the Queen Mother of the West by Otake Kokkan—the youngest of the three Otake brothers, who began their careers with Toyama medicine-merchant prints; as well as modern nihonga by leading figures of the modern Japanese painting world, together with ceramics and other works in a rich array of expressions on the theme of spring.

From the mid-Heian to the late Muromachi period, the tachi was the predominant form of Japanese sword. Made over many centuries as a blade well suited to mounted warfare, the tachi survives today in numerous masterful examples. From the Muromachi period onward, however, with the rise of foot soldiers and the introduction of firearms shifting combat to the ground, the uchigatana came to replace the tachi in practical use. Even so, within warrior society the tachi retained high ceremonial status. It was prized as an object for presentation and as an essential element of formal attire in rituals, and its production continued for roughly a thousand years up to the present day.

This exhibition, titled “In Praise of the Tachi,” traces the sword’s history from the Heian period to today, highlighting the distinctive features and points of interest of each era.