Exhibition: The Beauty of Transience - A Journey through the Seasons of Japan

Open until 31 March 2023
Weekdays, 10am - 5pm (Closed weekends, UK bank holidays, and on 23 February)
Free admission but photo ID is required
Advance bookings can be made here 

Japan’s position in the mid-latitude region, surrounded by sea and subject to shifting air masses, means that the country, albeit stretching a long distance from north to south, has four clearly distinct seasons.

While the existence of four seasons is by no means unique, Japan has a very long history of maintaining a close association with nature and this is very evident in its modern culture. Nature appears not only in the traditional arts of poetry, painting, flower arranging and tea ceremony but is commonly referenced in aspects of daily life such as food, correspondence, clothing and architecture.

By introducing the transient beauty of the seasons of Japan through the work of Kitaoka Fumio, well-known scenes in Japanese art, hanging scrolls and famous haiku, this exhibition aims to give a glimpse of insight into Japan’s close and complex relationship with the four seasons.