The City’s Prayers Sumiyoshi Festival and Sakai

Finished

The Sumiyoshi Festival of Sumiyoshi Taisha Shrine, also known as the "Oharai Festival," is one of the most popular summer festivals in the Kansai region. In this festival, a portable shrine is carried from Sumiyoshi Taisha to Sakai on the last day of June (in the past) or August 1 (at present), and a purification ceremony is held at the Otabisho (place of worship) in Sakai. This is thought to be derived from the history of Sakai's development as a city with deep ties to Sumiyoshi Taisha Shrine.

The "Sumiyoshi Matsuri Zu Byobu" (early Edo period) in the museum collection depicts the procession of the portable shrine to Sakai, and the lively procession through the streets of Sakai, with its rows of merchant houses, is one of the many highlights of the painting.

This exhibition will feature the first public showing in Japan of the "Sumiyoshi Festival Screen" from the collection of the San Francisco Asian Art Museum in the U.S., which also depicts the procession of the portable shrine at the Sumiyoshi Festival. This work has been in the United States for a long time and has not received much attention, but it is now being introduced at the museum following its conservation and restoration in Japan.

In addition to these two byobu and other paintings depicting the Sumiyoshi Festival, the exhibition will feature approximately 60 items, including related materials.

*Some of the exhibits will be changed between the first and second periods.
First period: November 3 (Friday, national holiday) - November 26 (Sunday)
Second period: November 28 (Tuesday) - December 17 (Sunday)

Schedule

Nov 3 (Fri) 2023-Dec 17 (Sun) 2023