Letter-scape: Century Akao Collection, A World of Letters and Figures

The importing of ‘kanji’ into Japan brought with it Chinese culture, and led to the editing of many stunning literary works. With the transliteration of spoken Japanese into ‘hiragana’, the literary culture of Japan, including genres like waka and tales, began to flourish. In this exhibition, we bring together the newly donated treasures of the Century Akao Collection with the historic holdings of Keio, to paint a picture of the expansive world of Japanese literary culture across time and place, and to bring to light the historical landscape which gave rise to it.

Organized by Keio Museum Commons and Keio Institute of Oriental Classics (Shido Bunko)