Suntory Museum of Art "Song Pillow: The Scenery of Your Unknown Heart"

Since ancient times, Waka has been a means of expressing emotions and emotions that are intangible for the Japanese as tangible. He entrusted his thoughts to the changing nature and various things, and expressed his heart in the song. Therefore, the Japanese could not help writing beautiful scenery.
In this way, a specific image gradually became established in the land written in waka repeatedly, and it was widely shared among poets. And, even if you do not know the actual scenery, you will be able to express your thoughts through the image of the land. The land where a specific image is connected by the Japanese poem like this is "Song pillow" that it says today.
In other words, the song pillow, which became the landscape of the Japanese mind, developed with deep relationship with art afterwards. From the famous pictures drawn with poetic images of song pillows more than the actual scenery and various crafts decorated with the design of song pillows, it is noticed that song pillows have really enriched the contents of Japanese art.
However, for those of us who live in a modern age where Waka and classical music are not rooted in our lives, it may be difficult to sympathize with song pillows anymore. In this exhibition, we will introduce the scenery of the Japanese heart that everyone used to think of, the world of song pillows, and try to share various thoughts embedded in Japanese art with you again.