Japan

Karasu Tengu (crowlike deity) mask, approx. 1800-1850. Japan. Netsuke; ivory with dark detail staining, inlaid metal. The Avery Brundage Collection, B70Y811.

Kanzan (Hanshan), by Tobai (Japanese), approx. 1500-1625. Japan. Hanging scroll; ink and light colors on paper. The Avery Brundage Collection, B60D39+.a.

Sip, learn, and chat with Miwa Wang, sake sommelier and manager of True Sake, about the nuanced tastes and bouquets of sake. Stroll the galleries, see Lords of the Samurai, discover a Japanese tea ceremony showcasing matcha, a powdered green tea and namesake of our program. Observe its meticulous preparation and whisk your own. Dip into a talk on tea ceremony and warrior culture, join a docent conversation, or relax with a sake-tini, friends, and DJ-spun music.

The traditions—Omotesenke, Urasenke, and Mushanokojisenke—provide instruction in the Way of Tea to students around the world. Learn more.

Vocabulary associated with the arts of the samurai.

Fudo Myoo (the Immovable One) is one of the powerful deities known as the Five Bright Kings in Japanese Buddhism and folk religion. As a manifestation of the central cosmic Buddha Mahavairochana (Japanese: Dainichi), Fudo is believed to protect Buddhism and its true adherents. Like all Bright Kings, Fudo assumes a frightening form, with a sword in his right hand and a rope in his left. He sits in front of a swiring flame of fire, with which he purifies evil.

Kabuki scholar Laurence Kominz discusses a woodblock print of a Kabuki actor and courtesan depicted in a scene from the famous Japanese epic The Tale of Genji.

In Noh theatre (classical Japanese music drama), Japanese ghosts are usually upset females. Portrayed without feet because they have lost their connection to the earth, they are so filled with love, jealousy or rage that they won’t go peacefully into the night. Japanese believe ghosts are people who have died with an unpaid on — “debt” or “obligation.” If not repaid, the debt is passed down for generations, growing with each one like a snowball into an avalanche.

Watch Shiho Sasaki, Paintings Conservator at the Asian Art Museum, handle a Japanese hanging scroll for display and storage.