Blog, News & Events

Yōkai, roughly translated as monster or demon, and yūrei, roughly translated as ghosts, are so well integrated into Japan that it’s inconceivable to imagine them removed from the cultural landscape. While Pokémon reinvented the idea of yōkai for new generations at home and introduced the ...

JG Auction is announcing the next live auction on Saturday 26th November 2022, at 2:00 GMT. On sale will be a wide selection of original Japanese art, including ukiyo-e (woodblock prints), arms and armour, and an original kamikaze pilot suit.Registration can be done through the online platforms ...

Japan’s Autumn Moon Viewing, known as Otsukimi (お月見), is thought to have formally originated in the Heian Period. Like many of the seasonal celebrations of the era, these night time gatherings would see aristocrats come together to write poetry and music under the full harvest moon.This ...

In Summer, heatwaves and sunny days seem to be more and more common in the UK, so looking for ways to keep cool and make the most of the hotter months are more important than ever. In Britain we are not used to intense temperatures, and therefore are more equipped for the cold and rain than ...

Hamada Shōji was a prolific Mingei folk craft potter of the 20th century. His laidback forms and energetic decorations disguise a master of ceramics, whose skill and vision shaped studio pottery throughout the previous century and into the present day. While his shapes are precisely controlled and ...

JG Auction is announcing our next live auction on Saturday 21st May 2022 at 2:00 GMT. On sale will be a wide selection of original Japanese ukiyo-e (woodblock prints) including works by Hiroshige I Utagawa, Yoshitoshi Tsukioka, Chikanobu Yoshu, and Hiroshi Yoshida.Registration can be done through ...

   Murasaki Shikibu’s Tale of Genji, written in the early 11th Century, is considered to be perhaps the world’s first novel. It’s influence spans widely across Japanese culture, including visual arts. In the Edo period, a whole new genre of ukiyo-e was birthed after the publication of Ryū ...

   This month at the Japanese Gallery, we have had some exciting new acquisitions centring around the Musha-e genre.   Musha-e are prints that depict samurai and warriors, often in battle. The famous woodblock print artist Kuniyoshi Utagawa (1798 - 1861) was a dominating force within this genre ...

This New Year, we are welcoming in the adventurous, courageous and risk-taking Tiger of 2022. The Year of the Tiger (寅年 tora doshi), specifically the water tiger, begins on 1st February according to the lunar calendar. The Chinese zodiac not only has a cycle of twelve animals, but also the ...

Gishi-sai Festival - The 47 Faithful Samurai Gishi-sai is an annual winter festival held at Sengaku-ji Temple in Tokyo. It honours 47 brave rōnin (浪人, masterless samurai) who gave their lives to avenge their lord and master in an event known as the Genroku Akō Incident (元禄赤穂事件 ...