Sugie Ako | Welcome to the World of the Brilliant Court Banquet
A review of an exhibition tracing the history of Japan's court banquets, from Meiji Westernization to elegant tableware and dresses.Summary
This is a review of the exhibition "Welcome to the World of the Brilliant Court Banquet," held at the Gakushuin Museum in Tokyo from September 26 to November 21, 2026. The court banquet is Japan's highest-level formal dinner hosted by the Emperor and Empress at the Imperial Palace to welcome state guests, featuring a full French course and a strict dress code of tailcoats or montsuki haori-hakama for men and long dresses or iromuji kimono for women. The history dates back to 1869, when Emperor Meiji welcomed the Duke of Edinburgh, but British complaints about Japan's lack of protocol knowledge triggered a full Westernization of court customs. The exhibition displays Western-style tableware from the Arisugawa and Takamatsu families, bonbonnières, and a photograph of Empress Shoken, showing the challenges of adopting Western cuisine, tableware production, and dress. It also highlights how Japan, which had exported Imari porcelain since the early Edo period, had to relearn from Western porcelain in the Meiji era, ordering Arita potters to produce Western-style tableware. The review concludes by questioning the meaning of protocol today, suggesting that new protocols may be needed in our era of diversity.
(Source：artscape)