Tokyo National Museum 09:30
¥2,100, college students ¥1,300, high school students ¥700, junior high students and younger free
Head to the Tokyo National Museum’s Heiseikan this summer for a sweeping exploration of the secretive inner chambers of the Tokugawa shogunate. On show from July 19 to September 21, ‘Ooku: Women of Power in Edo Castle’ takes viewers into the secluded quarters that housed the wives, concubines and ladies-in-waiting of the shoguns – women who navigated a world of rigid hierarchy, political intrigue and quiet resilience behind locked doors and copper-clad walls.
Though immortalised in popular culture through kabuki, television dramas and manga, the real ooku was far more nuanced than fiction suggests. The exhibition sheds new light on reality through approximately 180 rarely seen artefacts, including historical documents, architectural diagrams, exquisite kimonos, personal effects and intricate ceremonial textiles.
Highlights include 31 embroidered cloths (kakefukusa), which were placed upon important gifts exchanged in the palace, from the Genroku era (1688–1704); elegant garments worn by women from samurai families; and the complete Chiyoda no Ooku (1894–1896) series of ukiyo-e prints by Toyohara Chikanobu, which depict daily life in Edo Castle as imagined by the artist some 30 years after the fall of the shogunate. Visitors can also view kabuki costumes worn by women actors who performed within the Ooku itself.
Highlighting personal stories and treasured objects alike, the exhibition reveals the complexities of life within the shogun’s harem, where power, duty and emotion quietly shaped history. It’s a rare opportunity to step beyond the myth and into the true world of the Ooku.
