“Mitate occurs in many settings in our everyday lives. For example, when playing with building blocks, we put together square and triangular shaped pieces of wood and play with them as if they were everyday objects.
The fundamental mitate process is to liken one thing to something else.
The history of the mitate in Japan is long and deep; it can, in fact, be traced back to the Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters), the earliest history of Japan, complied in 712. Mitate are used in waka poetry, the tea ceremony, Kabuki, Rakugo comedy, and even garden design. The mitate has taken root in Japanese culture as a distinctive means of expression.
In this exhibition, we reconsider mitate in art through works, primarily from the museum s collection, in which expression through mitate. Japanese paintings, crafts, contemporary arts−we hope you will enjoy the broad range of mitate in each of those genres.”