The Art of the Japanese Package

This exhibition presents over two hundred items of traditional Japanese Packaging. These were selected by Professor Hideyuki Oka who travelled through Japan selecting examples of Tsutsumu.

No one can deny that the modern system of mass production has made our daily life comfortable and easy. But perhaps we should pause to reflect upon how in earlier times, items of value and fragility were paced and to ask ourselves if we have lost something in exchange for so much convenience. The exhibition Tsutsumu. The Art of the Japanese Package provides just such an opportunity for gallery visitors. The 221 items in this exhibition allow us to see how Japanese packages assumed their shapes over years of unselfconscious use and experimentation to such a degree where packaging is now considered another form of Japan’s cultural heritage.

Hideyuki Oka writes:

“In no way self-conscious or assertive, these wrappings have an artless and obedient air that greatly moves the modern viewer. They are whispered evidence of the Japanese ability to create beauty from the simplest products of nature. They also teach us that wisdom and feeling are especially important in packaging because these qualities, or the lack of them, are almost immediately apparent. What is the use of a package if it shows no feeling?”

Sources: ‘The Art of the Japanese Package’, The Bulletin [Christchurch Art Gallery], No.15, May/June, 1981, p.3; Hideyuki Oka, How to Wrap Five More Eggs: Traditional Japanese Packaging (New York and Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1989)

References: Annual Report 1978-1979 p. 19 * , Exhibition Catalogue *, The National Gallery Society of Victoria Bulletin May 1979, p. 13 *, Australian Gallery Directors Council Newsletter, May 1, 1979 p. 2