From the Meiji Period onwards, Yokoyama Taikan, Hishida Shunsō, Shimomura Kanzan and other artists gathered and studied under Okakura Tenshin, the seeker for the new path of Japanese art and the founder of Nihon Bijutuin (Japan Art Institute), and devoted themselves to bring innovation into Japanese-styled paintings. Carrying out the intention of the deceased master, Taikan revived the institute in Taisho 3 (1914), which had suspended its external activities.
With the full support of Ōkura Kishichirō, who was also a patron of Taikan, “Esposizione D’Arte Giapponese, Roma (Exhibition of Japanese Art, Roma)” was held in Showa 5 (1930). It was a large project of contemporary Japanese painting at that time period in which a total of 80 artists participated, not only from the Inten (revived Japan Art Academy) school but also the Kanten school, such as Kawai Gyokudō and Takeuchi Seihō.
This exhibition commemorates the 90th anniversary of the exhibition and presents mainly the very works displayed in Rome, created by those opulent artists of the modern Japan.