This exhibition explores the profound interweaving of visual art, literature, and philosophy in Japan. It presents a carefully selected array of kakejiku (hanging scrolls), ukiyo-e woodblock prints, tea ceramics, martial arts artifacts, and other works that embody centuries of artistic discipline and refined craftsmanship.
Across these objects, the pairing of image and text—through poems, classical tales, or Zen aphorisms—is not merely decorative but essential. It reveals how Japanese artists have long balanced visual expression with language, emotion, and reflection. Visitors are invited not only to admire the technical mastery and physical beauty of these works, but also to engage with the deeper values they express: impermanence, mindfulness, restraint, and renewal.
Throughout the exhibition, a creative forge emerges—where transience and discipline are fused. By placing literary and ritual objects in dialogue, the show illuminates how Japanese art reflects the human condition: disciplined yet ephemeral, rooted in nature and tradition, attuned to the quiet rhythms of life and death.
Drawing from centuries-old practices—including the tea ceremony (chanoyu), the warrior code (bushido), narrative traditions (monogatari), and the poetic appreciation of landscape (fukei)—the works on view invite meditation on craft as both spiritual and material pursuit. In this worldview, beauty does not defy impermanence—it arises through it. The everyday becomes sacred, and the act of making becomes a form of meaning-making.
This collection reflects over two decades of research and collecting by Professor Rodney Castillo during his travels in Japan.
The exhibition concept and accompanying programming were developed collaboratively by Professors Rodney Castillo and Victor Calderín, and it was curated by Isabela Villanueva.
義 · 旅 · 和 · 情
The exhibition is framed within four concepts that illustrate the themes of bushido, fukei, monogatari, and chanoyu: Gi, Tabi, Wa, and Jo.
義
Gi represents the unwavering moral backbone of the samurai, but also the precision and discipline that anchor Japanese art forms. In this gallery, the brushstroke and the blade alike become emblems of clear resolve—expressing how martial training, weaponry, and ritual manifest justice, integrity, and balance in visual form. Explore how ancient codes of honor and contemporary notions of personal ethics find harmony in the artistry of composure, restraint, and courage.
旅
Tabi captures journeys both outward and inward—inviting visitors to travel through painted landscapes, diaries, and scenic prints rich in atmosphere and spirit. Each passage evokes not just a place, but a moment suspended in time: rivers, mist, and mountain paths reflect the aesthetics of impermanence, inviting meditation on change, renewal, and the transient rhythms of nature. In these works, journey and landscape become meditations on memory and the soul of place.
和
Wa lies at the very core of the Japanese tea ceremony—a sanctuary of peace created through attentive craft and mutual respect. Surround yourself with the humble utensils, elegant ceramics, and sparse calligraphic scrolls that shape spaces for balance and reflection. Here, the everyday transforms into the spiritual; tea, architecture, and etiquette unite to reveal how material tradition embodies the values of hospitality, mindfulness, and seasonal beauty. Harmony, in this space, becomes a lived experience.
情
Jo embodies the emotional and psychological heart of Japanese storytelling, where the tensions between passion and duty animate every narrative. Here, from ukiyo-e prints to evocative narrative scrolls, artists confront the challenges of love, betrayal, mercy, and shame. Through visually rich tales, this section becomes a mirror for ethical introspection: each work examines not only the conflicts of the human heart, but also the enduring moral lessons woven into Japanese legend and history.