The Mural Art of Kotohira-gu Shrine

26 April to 8 June 2008

Hours: 9:30a.m.- 5:00 p.m.
Entry is permitted thirty minutes before the galleries are closed.
Closed: Closed on Mondays (except 28 April and 5 May) and 7 May(Wednesday)

Admission:
Adults: 1000 (800) Yen
Students (College or senior high): 800 (600) Yen
Students (elementary or junior high school): 500 (300) Yen
(Conｃession for groups or advanced tickets)

The Kotohira-gu Shrine familiarly known as "Sanuki no Konpira-san", is one of the representative large shrines in Japan with its vast divine area and various constructions at Mt.Kotohira in Kagawa Prefecture, where about 4,000,000 people visit to worship every year.

"Konpira-mairi"(pilgrimage) became popular from the mid-Edo period, and became famous by a song about the Konpira ships that sailed in the Inland Sea of Japan. People throughout the country gathered at the town in front of the shrine, which bustled with markets, theaters, sumo wrestling, and lotteries. The oldest theater house existing in Japan is in Kotohira-machi(constructed in 1835), which is famous for its "Shikoku Konpira Kabuki Oshibai" held every spring.

Kotohira-gu is a shrine of faith and a shrine of culture, that has supported arts and sciences since the Edo period, and the total number of cultural propertiies within the shrine is 6000. Among them, 14paintings by Maruyama Okyo are designated as national Important Cultural Property, 11 paintings byIto Jakuchu are designated by Kagawa Prefectural Cultural Property, and 1725 items are designated as national Important Tangible Folk-cultural Property. The Shrine also has valuable works including 27 oil Paintings by Takahashi Yuichi who is a major painter of the early western style paintings in Japan, and the Homotsukan (treasure museum) and Gakugei Sankokan (arts and science museum) where they were stored became the first governmentally registered museums in Japan in 1952.

In the autumn of 2004, on the occasion of the Daisenza-sai which is a festival that takes place once every 33 years, the Omote-shoin and Oku-shoin were opened to the public, and the spacial beauty of the shoin with its gardens and a view of Sanuki Fuji, was experienced by many people.

In this exhibition, we are reproducing the shoin space within our galleries, as close as technically possible, along with offered ema (votive tablets) and ship models, to enable oue visitors to experience the spiritual world of Kotohira-gu. If our visitors are able to become aware of the rich tradition and culture of Kotohira-gu Shrine on this occasion, we hope next they will visit the actual vast shrine where nature and culture is unified.

Lastly, we would like to express our deep gratitude towards those who offered their help and cooperation towards this exhibition.

Installation Views

Exhibition to be held also at:
Musée Guimet, Paris: 15 October - 8 December 2008