Events
Studio Ghibli: Kyoto exhibition brings together Zen and animation
"Hakuin's Zen" presents around 50 original works by the Zen master and translates their visual language into the present with immersive projections.
Studio Ghibli and Nippon TV present the exhibition "Hakuin's Zen" at the Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art from December 17, 2026 to January 11, 2027. A new sub-visual featuring Enma, based on a work by the Zen master Hakuin Ekaku, has now been released for the show.
The exhibition is the second part of a Ghibli project in Kyoto. Beforehand, "Zen and Ghibli" runs at the same venue from October 3; "Hakuin's Zen" follows as a later exhibition. Around 50 original works by Hakuin Ekaku are on display; in the 18th century he was one of the formative figures of Rinzai Zen.
Ghibli sets Hakuin's images in motion
According to Nippon TV, the exhibition combines the historical works with immersive room projections. Hakuin's pictorial worlds are enlarged and partly animated, so that motifs and inscriptions do not appear merely as classic museum objects. Studio Ghibli explicitly describes the project as an attempt to make Hakuin's messages newly accessible with modern imaging technology.
The new Enma motif complements a main visual with Kannon that was presented in June. Both images are meant to address the contrast between judgment and salvation. The show is therefore not an exhibition about a single Ghibli film, but a cultural project by the studio outside its usual animation production.
"Hakuin's Zen" runs in the new Higashiyama Cube of the Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art. Opening hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; the exhibition is generally closed on Mondays, with public holidays excepted. Further details on tickets and visiting times are available on the official exhibition page.
aninew.de has recently also featured other exhibition projects from Japanese animation culture, including the 20th-anniversary exhibition for "Suzumiya Haruhi" and the exhibition on Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino.