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A special full moon will illuminate the evening sky this Friday night (Sept. 29th, 2023), marking an auspicious occasion in many East Asian cultures. Known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, or Chushu no Meigetsu in Japanese, the celebration signals the beginning of the annual harvest and usually falls on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar.

From murals in London to postage stamps in Japan, Hokusai’s Great Wave (Under the Wave off Kanagawa) is one of the most recognizable works in the history of art. In its ubiquity, the image has become a shorthand for many things–not only for Japanese art or Japan, but also more abstractly, as an unstoppable force, a crashing cultural wave. But what is overlooked in the shadow of the wave?

Learn about the forty year history of the Ronin Gallery and the making of our new home at Bryant Park Place.

As summer days cool and the sweet smell of turning leaves fills the air, autumn is undoubtedly upon us. While spring in Japan brings the delicate pink of the cherry blossoms, autumn bursts into a kaleidoscope of brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows. Such stunning natural beauty is celebrated with momijigari.

Over the past decade, the influence of Japanese photography has swept the art market. This thriving market focuses on post-war photographers, largely active between the late 1950s and the 1970s. The avant-garde group working during these years tore away from the dominant journalistic tradition of Japanese photography to create raw, subjective images of the world around them.

With the high level of volcanic activity in Japan, it is no surprise that the country boasts many natural hot springs. While there are many options for experiencing onsen culture, we've selected ten of the most popular onsen in Japan today.

Ronin Gallery is proud to have collaborated with the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens on their exhibition, Perseverance: Japanese Tattoo Tradition in a Modern World. The exhibition contextualized the Japanese tattoo tradition through the inclusion of ukiyo-e and original works of art by Horiyoshi III.

After our exhibition Taboo: Ukiyo-e and the Japanese Tattoo earlier this year, we at Ronin Gallery are thrilled to see Japan's foremost tattoo artist, Horiyoshi III, featured on VICE.

In order to curate a stunning collection of Japanese art, one must know how to properly evaluate a print.

The history of photography in Japan begins during the Edo period. Introduced through the Dutch merchants that inhabited Dejima Island in Nagasaki Bay, the medium attracted an initially small, but intrigued audience. Following the Meiji Restoration, the popularity of photography surpassed that of woodblock prints.

From 17th century to today, artists capture the quiet beauty of snow, the crisp blue of the winter sky, and the joy of cozying up as temperatures plummet. While winter brings artistic inspiration, it also heralds some exciting seasonal festivities! This week we'll look to some of the most popular winter customs and festivals in Japan.

From majestic landscapes to lively street scenes, Hiroshige's portrayal of the Japanese landscape not only illustrates the beauty of Japan during the four seasons, but also the dynamic life of the people who lived there. Ronin Gallery is pleased to present a collection of landscape prints selected from Hiroshige's most famous masterpiece series.

As one of Japan's most important creative minds, Takeda Hideo's work invariably speaks to audiences worldwide. As a satirist, cartoonist, printmaker, photographer, illustrator, comedian and provocateur, the only persistent qualities of Takeda's artistic output are flexibility, adaptation and surprise.

Earth Day is an annual global event observed on April 22, a day to reflect upon our planet's magnificence and to commit to doing our part to protect the environment.

Daryl Howard embodies the beauty of cross-cultural art. She artfully combines influences from her American upbringing in Texas with traditional woodblock printing techniques learned in Japan.

With their unusually long and narrow dimensions, the hashira-e and kakemono formats created compositional challenges, yet also immense potential in an artist's approach to the image. The format itself was freeing and unique, allowing for compositions that brimmed with the grace and emotion of artfully employed negative space and vertical dynamism.

The second half of the 18th century was the golden age of innovation in ukiyo-e. During this period, woodblock print artists experimented with a variety new techniques and sizes. In Hashira-e: 18th Century Pillar Prints, Ronin Gallery considers the enormous versatility and groundbreaking innovation of the artists working in the hashira-e format during the golden age.