The Shimane Art Museum in Matsue will host the 73rd Japan Traditional Kōgei Exhibition (第73回日本伝統工芸展) from 2 to 25 December 2026, showing about 270 works in its special exhibition gallery. The museum describes the exhibition as the largest open-call craft exhibition in Japan.
The Matsue presentation is organised jointly by Shimane Prefecture, the museum, the prefectural board of education, NHK Matsue, the Asahi Shimbun Company, the San’in Chuo Shimpo, the Japan Kōgei Association and the SPS Shimane Group, with a subsidy from the Agency for Cultural Affairs and special cooperation from Nippon Express.
The selection brings together works by holders of Important Intangible Cultural Property designations, commonly known as Living National Treasures, prize-winning entries, and pieces by artists living in the San’in region, which covers Shimane and Tottori prefectures. The works illustrated on the museum’s page span ceramics, lacquer, textiles, cloisonné, glass, woodwork, figures made with paulownia clay and washi, and an inkstone.
This year’s prize-winners include a flower basket titled ‘Sea Murmur’, which received the Japan Kōgei Association President’s Prize; an Aizu maki-e lacquer box, ‘Wind Across the Valley’, awarded the Takamatsunomiya Memorial Prize; a raw-silk kimono, ‘Tree Rain’, which won the Minister of Education Prize; an ash-glazed bowl, ‘Oboro’, given the Tokyo Governor’s Prize; a wipe-lacquered box of ancient zelkova, ‘Ever-changing’, which took the NHK Chairman’s Prize; and Tsuiki Noriko’s Kokura striped cotton obi ‘Abstract Black Butterfly’, winner of the Asahi Shimbun Prize.
Among the Living National Treasures represented are the Tottori-based porcelain artist Maeda Akihiro, with a faceted white porcelain jar, and the ceramicist Nakata Ippo, with a bowl decorated in gold and silver beneath a white-silver glaze. Regional works include a Hirose kasuri kimono by an artist from Yasugi, cloisonné pieces by makers from Tottori and Matsue, a glass crane-neck vase from Izumo, and lacquered vessels by Matsue craftspeople. A cotton kasuri kimono by an artist from Kurayoshi takes Picasso’s Guernica as its point of departure.
On 6 December the museum will hold a commemorative lecture on yūri ginsai, the technique of applying silver beneath the glaze, followed by an explanation of the works in the gallery. Exhibiting artists will also give gallery talks on the weekends of 5–6, 12–13 and 19–20 December.
