Throughout the year, numerous festivals and traditional rituals of a religious nature, of great social and cultural importance, are held in Japan. With solemn ceremonial moments and others of pure entertainment, they originate primarily in Shinto - ancient cult of kami spirits - to which were added Buddhist practices.

The exhibition Japan: festivities and rites showcases these celebrations and their role in Japanese society as pillars of the construction of identity and community, of their conception of the world and the forces that move it.

As varied as they are popular, these festivities are celebrated in shrines and temples but also within the domestic space, in rural communities as well as in the metropolises. They spring from the natural coexistence of different belief systems in Japan and share the same aspect: the importance of ritual. It is through its practice that the harmony between men, nature and divinities is assured, on which prosperity and the common good depend. Passed on over generations – in a continuum that links present and past and is projected into the future – rituals reinforce the bonds of collective belonging between individuals and are translated, today, into values such as citizenship, social responsibility, human and environmental sustainability.

Across more than 1500 pieces, showcased here for the first time, Japan: Festivities and Rites guides us through the universe of these celebrations: the pantheon of deities and their attributes, the main festivities and their associated contexts, practices and objects.

Relying on the principles of Shinto and Buddhism in Japan, the exhibition invites you to a tour of the calendar of annual celebrations, with highlights going to the New Year and the Boys' and Girls' festivals, along with rites of purification and protection and funeral rites, fertility cults and end of year ceremonies.

In an impressive scenography encompassing recreations of altars and spaces of worship, the exhibition presents devotional objects, figurines, prints, and multimedia installations, photography and video.

Japan: festivities and rites invites you to immerse yourself in this vital element of Japanese identity, in which tradition and regeneration, physical world and spirituality converge.