“The Beauty of Formality: Noh Costumes from the Marubeni Collection,” gathering vividly colored garments used in noh, opened on the 25th at Marubeni Gallery on the third floor of the Marubeni headquarters, immediately east of the Palaceside Building. Ninety works are on view, including 10 noh masks such as “Hannya” from the National Noh Theatre. A giant tapestry has appeared in the first-floor entrance of the Marubeni headquarters to promote the show. The exhibition runs through October 26.
According to Marubeni, the collection holds 435 textiles, of which 66 noh costumes—15 percent of the whole—form an important pillar. Combining art and technique, the costumes are richly embroidered with multicolored silk and finished with gold and silver foil: truly splendid, and regarded as a crystallization of Japanese aesthetic sense. The exhibition presents men’s and women’s costumes from the 18th century onward in the Edo period, as well as waist sashes, katsura-obi, and chukei folding fans.
Admission is 500 yen for adults; high-school students and younger enter free. Open Monday–Saturday, 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Closed Sundays and holidays. Visitors in kimono, yukata, or other Japanese dress enter free.