Image: Urawa Art Museum
Urawa Art Museum in Saitama is presenting ‘The World of Ukiyo-e Cats: Purrfectly Curled up Neko’, an exhibition devoted to the many ways cats appear in Japanese ukiyo-e and related visual culture. The exhibition runs from 11 July through 30 August 2026 at the museum in Urawa Ward, Saitama. The announcement was circulated by Tokyo’s Ōta Memorial Museum of Art as information about an exhibition at another institution.
The exhibition brings together depictions by more than 30 artists and painters. The selection includes works by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, widely known for his interest in cats, alongside Suzuki Harunobu, Keisai Eisen, Utagawa Hiroshige, Utagawa Yoshifuji, Kawanabe Kyōsai, Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, Kobayashi Kiyochika and Kimura Shōhachi.
According to Urawa Art Museum, the presentation follows cats through a range of behaviours and roles: curling up to sleep, seeking affection, hunting mice and turning away with apparent indifference. The exhibition also examines cats’ relationships with people, as well as their appearances in actor prints, depictions of supernatural or monster cats, and toy pictures made for children.
The museum describes the exhibition as an exploration of the varied forms taken by cats in the visual culture of the Edo period and later. Alongside ukiyo-e prints, it will include selected illustrated materials from Urawa Art Museum’s collection in which cats appear. The museum’s description places the subject within both longstanding artistic practice and the continuing popularity of cats in contemporary culture, without limiting the exhibition to a single type of image.
The exhibition is organised by Urawa Art Museum, with planning cooperation from Art One Co., Ltd. Opening hours are 10am to 5pm, extending to 8pm on Fridays and Saturdays; entry to the galleries ends 30 minutes before closing. The museum is closed on Mondays, except 20 July, and will also close on Tuesday 21 July.
Admission is ¥1,000 for general visitors and ¥700 for high-school and university students, with reduced group rates for groups of 20 or more. Admission is free for students of junior-high-school age and younger. The exhibition is being held at Urawa Art Museum, located on the third floor of Urawa Century City at 2-5-1 Naka-chō, Urawa Ward, Saitama.
