Past ExhibitionsBack

The origin of the word “prayer” (inori) is a declaration of life, signifying gratitude for being alive. Since ancient times, people have held a sense of awe and respect toward the divine, Buddha-nature, and other existences in the natural world that transcend human understanding. They have offered prayers as a means of communicating with the divine and transcendent, using the bounties of the earth such as trees, stones, gold, silver, copper, and other minerals to give them visible form. If the prayers were pure, perhaps beautiful spirits could be discovered in the forms that were created.
　Since its opening, MIHO MUSEUM has been collecting and exhibiting artworks from Japan and the Eastern and Western civilizations of the Asian continent. As you go through galleries in the South Wing filled with ancient art, against a background of nature, and in the North Wing featuring Japanese art, primarily from our special exhibition, you will feel as if you are resonating with the beautiful prayers of East and West.
　Highlighting Universal Symphony, a large piece made of decorative karakami paper, which was created as a prayer for world peace, the current exhibition introduces selected Eastern and Western works from the museum’s collection, that embrace prayers from different places and periods. This exhibition also features eighty-four works, including eight on exhibit for the first time. These objects consist of those that were made in awe of nature and the gods of
ancient civilizations based on beliefs in sacred beasts and sacred trees, sculptures of Shinto deities and buddhas who were the objects of prayer for the Japanese, ritual objects related to the Shuni-e (water-drawing ceremony) at Tōdaiji Temple, and paintings that depict objects of prayer in everyday life. We hope this exhibition will become an opportunity to think about world peace, the universal hope of humankind, and that you will enjoy the beautiful symphony of East and West, performed by prayers of beauty.