Salon Culture in Japan

Celebrates the British Museum’s rich collection of artworks created as part of Japanese cultural salons

In early modern Japan, cultural salons were creative spaces for people of all ages and social levels to pursue painting, poetry, and other artistic endeavors as serious but amateur practitioners. All using a pen- or art-name, individuals were able to socialize and interact broadly through these artistic activities, regardless of official social status as regulated by the shogunal government. The idea of communal and collaborative creativity seems to have been especially ingrained around the area of Kyoto and Osaka. Each of the two cities had a distinct character: Kyoto was the national capital, where the emperor and aristocrats resided, and Osaka was the center of commerce.

The technically sophisticated artworks produced in these salons feature lively figures in daily life and festivals, elegant birds and flowers, ferocious animals, and lyrical landscapes, and only a fraction has previously been published in color. With five essays by leading experts that explore this fascinating cultural phenomenon from different angles, plus eight shorter insights that delve into specific historical aspects and the personal connections and legacies of cultural figures, this book offers a new perspective on Japanese art and society in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.