Image: Okumura Masanobu (1686–1764). Twenty-Four Paragons of Filial Piety: Guo Ju. Japan, Edo period (1615–1868), early 1730s . Woodblock print; ink on paper with hand-coloring . Gift of James A. Michener, 1991 (21665)
The Honolulu Museum of Art will open ‘Honor Thy Mother and Father: Depictions of Filial Piety in Japan’ on August 28, presenting Japanese woodblock prints that illustrate literary stories about filial piety. The exhibition will be on view in Gallery 21 through January 3, 2027.
According to the museum, the exhibition examines filial piety as respectful behavior toward people in positions of authority, particularly one’s parents. Rather than treating the subject only as a moral principle, the presentation focuses on how it was visualized through printed images connected to well-known narratives and historical traditions.
The exhibition features prints by Okumura Masanobu, Utagawa Hiroshige and Utagawa Kuniyoshi. Their works illustrate three literary subjects: ‘The Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety,’ ‘The Tale of the Soga Brothers’ and ‘Kanadehon Chūshingura’—also known as ‘The Treasury of Loyal Retainers.’ The museum identifies the source narratives as dating from the 1730s, 1644 and 1748, respectively.
One work highlighted by the museum is Okumura Masanobu’s ‘Twenty-Four Paragons of Filial Piety: Guo Ju,’ made in Japan during the Edo period, in the early 1730s. The woodblock print is printed in ink on paper with hand-coloring and belongs to the Honolulu Museum of Art collection. It was given by James A. Michener in 1991.
The newsletter promoting the exhibition also identifies a work by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, ‘The Exemplary Son Yang Xiang: Protecting His Father from a Tiger.’ The print comes from the series ‘Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety: A Mirror for Children,’ made in Japan during the Edo period around 1843–1847. It is a woodblock print in ink and color on paper, given to the museum by Michener in 1959.
The exhibition is made possible by the Robert F. Lange Foundation. It forms part of the Honolulu Museum of Art’s programme in Gallery 21, described by the museum as the gallery devoted to woodblock prints. The presentation will remain on view at the Honolulu Museum of Art in Honolulu from August 28, 2026, to January 3, 2027.
