The Roles and Representations of Animals in Japanese Art and Culture, Part 7

Miwako Tezuka, consulting curator, Reversible Destiny Foundation Artworks representing animals—real or imaginary, religious or secular—span the full breadth and splendor of Japanese artistic production. As the first exhibition devoted to the subject, The Life of Animals in Japanese Art covers 17 centuries (from the fifth century to the present day) and a wide variety of media. At the symposium held on June 7, 2019 in conjunction with the exhibition, Miwako Tezuka discussed how the relationship between animals and humans has changed since the premodern era in Japan. Tezuka examined select contemporary artworks and fashion designs from the exhibition and described uniquely contemporary approaches to animals, or in Japanese, dōbutsu—“things that move.”