Image: Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art
The Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art will present 'The New Wave of Tea Ceremony' from July 7 to August 16, 2026, bringing together work by 77 contemporary ceramic artists drawn from the collection of the privately run Midorigaoka Museum. The exhibition focuses on tea ceremony ware, including mizusashi, tea bowls and tea caddies, and sets out to show how current ceramic practice is reworking one of Japan’s most established fields of functional design.
According to the museum, the exhibition gathers artists from a wide range of generations and regional ceramic traditions. Among those named are Bizen ware artist Ryuichi Kizaki and Tamba ware artist Masahiko Ichino, alongside makers such as Tomoko Takahashi and Akio Niisato, whose work is noted for distinctive technical approaches. The selection also includes younger artists, including Moe Kaneda, born in the 1990s, indicating a survey that spans established figures and emerging names within contemporary Japanese ceramics.
The museum describes the show as a presentation of works in which personal expression and utility meet within the conventions of tea ware. Rather than treating tea utensils as fixed historical forms, the exhibition frames them as a site of experimentation, with artists competing across the shared themes of mizusashi and tea bowls while introducing new formal and material ideas. The project is supported through cooperation with Kurayoshi Museum and Midorigaoka Museum, and it is backed by the Fukutake Foundation for Education and Culture.
The exhibition will be shown in the museum’s second-floor gallery. Opening hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with admission until 30 minutes before closing. The museum will remain closed on Mondays except when a holiday falls on that day, in which case it closes the following Tuesday; it will also open specially on August 10. Admission is 360 yen for general visitors, 260 yen for university students, 170 yen for visitors aged 65 and over, and free for school-age children and younger. Group discounts are available, and selected visitors with identification may enter free under the museum’s stated conditions.
A night opening is scheduled for July 25, when the museum will stay open until 7 p.m. That same evening, the museum’s 'Art Evening' program will feature a talk by Yuko Fuku Tomi, a deputy director at the museum, held inside the second-floor gallery and requiring an exhibition ticket. The museum also lists additional related events during the run of the exhibition, including tea service sessions on July 12 and 26 using vessels by exhibiting artist Wataru Yoneda, with sweets provided by Shotouen.
An artist talk by Bizen ware ceramicist Ryuichi Kizaki is scheduled for August 8 at 11 a.m., also in the second-floor gallery and requiring admission. The museum notes that from August 1 to 16, visitors can enter 'The New Wave of Tea Ceremony' with a ticket for the concurrently running special exhibition 'Circus! Welcome to the World of Dreams.'
