The Kyoto Netsuke Museum Seisou, a museum specializing in netsuke with a focus on contemporary pieces, is holding special exhibitions. From July to September 2026, the special exhibition "Netsuke are Time Travelers" will be held. Contemporary netsuke can freely express fantastical worlds and stories, and can be called time travelers that can move freely between time and place. The concept of traveling through time has existed in Japan since ancient times, with Japan's oldest tales such as "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" and "Urashima Taro" also featuring time travel as a theme. In current anime and manga, concepts like isekai reincarnation, where characters are reborn with entirely different personalities, or sometimes transform into non-human beings, have expanded the notion of time travel to include parallel worlds and time leaps. Now, let's embark on a journey through time with netsuke. "Netsuke are Time Travelers" Exhibition We introduce some of the netsuke exhibited in the July exhibition, "Netsuke Traveling Through Time." In July, under the theme "Netsuke Traveling Through Time," we will feature captivating key figures from various eras, as depicted in netsuke. Opening the door to a time machine that freely traverses the timelines of the present, past, and future, you might witness ancient dinosaurs awakening from slumber, witness the love stories of glamorous nobles from the Heian period, see warlords from the Sengoku period jostling for position, be moved by the fervor of the Edo period, or be astonished by future evolution. Stepping into worlds different from reality, the truths of the eras will approach you with a sense of presence. Why not become a witness to history by contemplating eternal romance and feeling the rise and fall of empires while traveling through time, thus freeing yourself from the everyday? "Fragment of Time" Artist: Ippuu Wachi (1970-) Size: 4.4 cm (height) Material: Ivory Description: From a series depicting the passage of seasons thr