Visitors to Buddhist Sculptor Unkei Exhibition in Tokyo Surpass 200,000; View Works from Kohfukuji Temple in Nara

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:40 JST, November 6, 2025

The number of visitors to the exhibition “Expressing Prayer, Capturing Form: Buddhist Sculptures by Unkei from the Northern Round Hall of Kohfukuji Temple” at the Tokyo National Museum in Taito Ward, Tokyo, surpassed 200,000 on Wednesday.

The museum celebrated the occasion with a ceremony.

The 200,000th visitor recognized by the museum was a 19-year-old university student in Kyoto, who came to the exhibition with her mother during a visit to her family home in Tokyo.

“I go to museums and art galleries at least once every month in Kyoto,” said the student, who paid visits to several museums on Wednesday, including the Tokyo National Museum.

During the ceremony, she received exhibition merchandise from Makoto Fujiwara, the executive director of the museum, and a commemorative shikishi card from Eishun Moriya, the abbot of Kohfukuji temple in Nara.

“I look forward to seeing ‘The Seated Miroku Nyorai (Maitreya Buddha)’,” she said with a smile.

The exhibition runs through Nov. 30.