Scrolls of Frolicking Animals and Humans Exhibit at Kyoto National Museum

There is an ongoing (at least up to this writing) special exhibit about the masterpieces and national treasures  of Kozan-ji temple in Kyoto at the Kyoto National Museum that luckily, I was able to see before it ends on November 24 this year.

Ticket to the special exhibit at Kyoto National Museum

Facade of Kyoto National Museum building where the exhibit is held

Featuring the recently restored Scrolls of Frolicking Animals and Humans or 鳥獣人物戯画 (Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga) in Japanese, the exhibition gives a glimpse on the extraordinary artistic skills of the still unknown creator of the four picture scrolls (emakimono) where  animals are depicted with human-like behaviours and humans drawn doing fun activities that are mostly satirical. The scrolls were created around 12th and 13th centuries. Due to its popularity (and perhaps due to the fact that we came on a holiday), we were told that the queue before entering the museum may take an hour and another 2 hours whilst inside viewing the exhibit. Nevertheless, the precious masterpieces waiting for us inside the museum would more than prove their worth to be queued. 

A long queue for the exhibit 

The exhibit begins with the introduction to the Kozan-ji temple in Kyoto in large connected halls where ancient maps, works and texts of the Buddhist monks and other artifacts are displayed. This introduction is necessary to set someone's sense of time to that of the scrolls' creation and also to appreciate the way of life of old Japan. The exit of these halls leads to the main exhibition area where the picture scrolls are displayed following a long labyrinth-like line that would take around 40 mins (not 2 hours as was told). Gazing upon the drawings, one cannot help but to be in awe with the artistic spirit of the creator and his skills of depicting the characters in somewhat humorous and less serious ways. Among the scrolls, my favourite is the first scroll where rabbits and frogs are playing archery. Many people specially those with Japanese history background would associate these drawing to mocking of the monks and probably political figures at that time but for the eyes of an amateur like me, these are rather a fun escape from the harsh realities of life and a reminder from the ancient times to not take things too seriously. 

Kyoto National Museum

After the exhibit, the museum sells souvenirs at reasonable prices. I got two postcards and a curtain for my room door. :)

Souvenir door curtain from the exhibit

Taking pictures inside the museum is strictly prohibited so there won't be any pictures of the actual drawings in this blog. One on the other hand can visit the Kyoto National Museum website and WIKIPEDIA for previews. 

For historical background about the exhibit, WIKIPEDIA has an extensive discussion here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C5%8Dj%C5%AB-jinbutsu-giga 

You can also visit the Kyoto National Museum website here for information on schedule and ticket prices:
http://www.kyohaku.go.jp/eng/special/index.html