A room divider is supposed to divide a room. These paintings ended up dividing themselves between collections in London, Seattle and Aomori. This Saturday, October 31, related Kano-school fusuma come together at Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka, in the British Museum exhibition Edo in Focus. A temporary reunion, not a permanent return.

The museum describes works separated for roughly 150 years. The useful story underneath that number is how their connections were reconstructed. Seattle Art Museum’s conservator says its four paintings are believed to have formed the reverse sides of panels now in the British Museum. Formerly double-sided doors were split into eight panels and sold to separate institutions. Objects made to work together became separate catalogue entries.

The evidence was partly under the paint. Recycled papers used as lining carried dates and place names. An inscription survived inside the wooden lattice. Comparing the papers’ sizes, structure and arrangement with related works helped establish connections with the paintings in Aomori’s Miyakoshi family collection. That is the work of conservation as research, rather than just making an old surface presentable.

The original arrangement is not certain in every detail. Neither does this research justify inventing a single acquisition story for everything in the exhibition. What it does offer is a chance to look at paintings as parts of a built space, not only as portable masterpieces.

The wider show draws from the British Museum’s roughly 40,000-object Japanese collection, with paintings, screens, scrolls, Hokusai drawings and prints by eight ukiyo-e artists. That number describes the collection, not the number of works filling Nakanoshima’s galleries.

The practical bill: adults ¥2,300, or ¥2,100 in advance. Official online advance sales end Friday, October 30, at 23:59; advance tickets are not sold at the museum. Online purchases cannot be changed or refunded. Osaka residents aged 65 and over also pay general admission for this exhibition. That is the published rule for this show, not evidence of a new policy cut.

It runs October 31, 2026-January 31, 2027, in the fourth-floor galleries, 10:00-17:00 and Fridays until 20:00, last entry 30 minutes before closing. Mondays are normally closed; check the official calendar for holiday openings and year-end closures. Opening Saturday’s curator talk runs 14:00-15:30: first 150 people, no advance application or extra charge, but an exhibition ticket is required, including a used stub.

日本語サマリー

青森・ロンドン・シアトルに分かれた狩野派の襖絵が、大阪で期間限定の再会。大阪中之島美術館の大英博物館展は10月31日(土)開幕です。シアトルの4面は大英博物館の襖絵の裏側だったと考えられています。下張りの古紙に残る日付や地名、木の骨組みの墨書、紙の構造の比較が、離れた作品のつながりを探る証拠に。元の配置の全てが確定したわけではなく、永久返還でもありません。会期は2027年1月31日まで、4階展示室。10:00-17:00、金曜20:00まで、最終入場は閉場30分前。月曜休館を基本に祝日開館や年末年始の例外があるため、公式日程を確認してください。一般2,300円、前売2,100円。公式オンライン前売は10月30日23:59まで、美術館での前売販売はなし。オンライン券は変更・返金不可。本展は大阪市内在住65歳以上も一般料金が必要です。開幕日の講演は14:00-15:30、先着150名、申込不要・追加料金なしですが、展覧会観覧券(半券可)が必要です。

Sources: Nakanoshima Museum of Art: exhibition, calendar and talk; Seattle Art Museum: conservator’s account, January 29, 2026; official Osaka online tickets and terms. Checked October 27, 2026, 08:14 JST.

File photo: Nakanoshima Museum of Art exterior, December 1, 2023, by Прикли, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, cropped for the card. Not a view of this exhibition.