Munakata’s woodblocks colour autumn at The Capitol Hotel Tokyu

Suiren, the Japanese restaurant within The Capitol Hotel Tokyu, has become a gallery for one of Japan’s most celebrated artists. Shikō Munakata’s woodblock series “Ryūryoku Kakosho” now fills the dining room with bold, intricate prints rendered in contrasting blacks and cream, each one capturing the perpetual dance between the seasons.

Born in Aomori Prefecture, Munakata achieved international recognition for his distinctive approach to printmaking, marrying meticulous detail with an almost spiritual intensity. “Ryūryoku Kakosho” translates as “willows green, flowers red,” a phrase steeped in Zen aesthetics. The work embodies the Buddhist principle that true beauty lies not in artifice but in nature’s unadorned self. Within each frame, delicate botanical forms unfold: willows bend, flowers bloom, grasses sway, and water flows. The compositions shift across the series, yet return persistently to a single truth: the eternal cycle of growth and renewal.

The placement of these works within Suiren creates an dialogue between art and cuisine. The restaurant’s commitment to Japanese culinary tradition finds its visual echo in Munakata’s reverence for natural form. Diners encounter the prints as they settle into the warm wood and natural light of the space, each composition framed in pale linen mount, allowing the prints to breathe. The intimate scale of the works draws one closer, rewarding prolonged observation with new details: the precise carving technique, the artist’s red seal stamped in the corner, the subtle variations in ink density that suggest season and mood.

This exhibition runs through the autumn season at Suiren, located on the ground floor of The Capitol Hotel Tokyu in central Tokyo.

Imagery courtesy of The Capitol Hotel Tokyu (@thecapitolhoteltokyu).