Rooms & spaces · 93
Japan, Room 93
Japan’s connected histories continue across the three-room gallery, with painting, ceramics and objects for daily and ceremonial use.
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A painted screen has a scale quite different from an object held in the hand. Across Rooms 92, 93 and 94, the Japan galleries bring those kinds of objects into a history reaching from prehistory to the present.
The combined display includes armour, religious sculpture and ceramics. Kakiemon ceramic elephants are among its highlights. Let a painted or glazed surface guide a closer look, then consider the size and purpose of the whole object. The dates and places attached to each group keep works made centuries apart within their particular settings.
Before you arrive
Room 93 is closed for maintenance from 29 March 2027 to 9 April 2027.
2026-10-28 / 2026-11-28
World estimates; allow extra time for admission and security. This is not a live availability check.
Photo gallery 1
Image credits
- SpeakingArch · Fowling in the marshes, fragment of wall painting from the Tomb of Nebamun, 1350 BCE, 18th Dynasty. Thebes, Upper Egypt, British Museum, London.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Geni · Great gold buckle sutton hoo.JPG · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Jack1956 · Bm-ginger.jpg · CC BY-SA 3.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg) · Amarna letter. Letter from Yapahu (ruler of Gezer) to the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III or son Akhenaten.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net) · Minoan Bull-leaper.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Pymouss · British Museum - Hamadab Stela 01.jpg · CC BY 3.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Jononmac46 · Silvered-bronze horse trappings from Xanten (BM).JPG · CC BY-SA 3.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Geni · Lindow Man 2023.JPG · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Johnbod · Bone pendant decorated with an engraved drawing of a wolverineDSCF6967.jpg · CC BY-SA 3.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Dave from Nottingham, England · Ochre Horse.jpg · CC BY 2.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Jononmac46 · Folkton Drums.JPG · CC BY-SA 3.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Jononmac46 · Orense Torcs.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Matthew Ford · 5 Torcs from the Ipswich Hoard.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Portable Antiquities Scheme from London, England · Winchester Hoard.jpg · CC BY 2.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Gryffindor · Seianti Hanunia Tlesnasa.jpg · CC BY-SA 3.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Johnbod · Brit Mus 13sept10 brooches etc 062.jpg · CC BY-SA 3.0 · WebP / AVIF
- James Miles · Angled View of the Hoa Hakananai'a Statue.JPG · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Diliff · British Museum Great Court, London, UK - Diliff.jpg · CC BY-SA 3.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Adrian Boliston · Queen Elizabeth II Great Court stairs 2025-03-19.jpg · CC BY 2.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Jononmac46 · Shiva Nataraja in BM.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Einsamer Schütze · Lindow Man 01.jpg · CC BY-SA 3.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Sanjay ach · Back side of Hoa Hakananai'a stone moai.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Michel wal · Roman writing tablet 02.jpg · CC BY-SA 3.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Matt Brown · British Museum entrance 2024-10-05.jpg · CC BY 2.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Dale Cruse from San Francisco, CA, USA · British Museum (53518798647).jpg · CC BY 2.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Johnbod · Waddesdon Bequest DSCF0642 01.JPG · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Paul Hudson from United Kingdom · British Museum - Room 6 (16675656832).jpg · CC BY 2.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). · Minoan Bull-leaper 1.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). · Bassae Frieze on display at the British Museum.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- APK · Room 18, British Museum - 1.jpg · CC BY 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- James Miles · Hoa Hakananai'a.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). · At the British Museum 2024 236.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Paul Hudson · British Museum - Room 33 (19022504543).jpg · CC BY 2.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Redtigerxyz · BrMus Amravati.jpg · CC BY-SA 3.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Paul Hudson from United Kingdom · British Museum - Room 40 Lewis Chess Pieces (20223865099).jpg · CC BY 2.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Mike Peel · At the British Museum 2024 279.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). · At the British Museum 2024 207.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). · Lindow Man.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Johnbod · Folkton DrumsDSCF9510.JPG · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Mike Peel · British Museum Flood Tablet 1.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Geni · Standard of ur peace 2013.JPG · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- SpeakingArch · Amarna letter from Yapahu, King of Gezer to the Egyptian King, 14th century BCE, Tell el Amarna.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Fæ · Gebelein predynastic mummy British Museum EA 32751.jpg · CC BY-SA 3.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Pymouss · British Museum - Hamadab Stela 02.jpg · CC BY 3.0 · WebP / AVIF
- APK · Room 68, British Museum.jpg · CC BY 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Jastrow · Portland Vase BM Gem4036 n1.jpg · CC BY 2.5 · WebP / AVIF
- APK · Painted terracotta sarcophagus of Seianti Hanunia Tlesnasa, British Museum.jpg · CC BY 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- BabelStone · The David Vases, 1351.jpg · CC BY-SA 3.0 · WebP / AVIF