Street Nihonga

The Art of Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani
February 19, 2026–June 28, 2026

Sam & Connie Perkins Central Court, The Estelle S. & Robert A. Long Ellis Foundation Gallery, Dolph Simons Family Gallery

Drawing of a black-and-white cat peering at an orange-and-black fish swimming in a bowl surrounded by flowers

Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani, untitled (cat with blue peony), circa 2001

Born in Sacramento, California, in 1920 and raised in Hiroshima, Japan, Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani (1920–2012) lived a life shaped by displacement, resilience, collaboration, and creativity across borders. Trained in Nihonga (“Japanese-style” painting) in prewar Japan, he returned to the United States in 1940 and endured wartime incarceration at Tule Lake, the loss of family and friends in Hiroshima to the atomic bombing, and decades of statelessness and homelessness in postwar New York City. His art—spanning painting, drawing, collage, and mixed media—became both a survival strategy and a way to transform memories of his transpacific journey and Japanese American experiences into shared testimony.

Street Nihonga sheds light on Mirikitani’s creative practice, intertwining artmaking, life narration, and street activism through the largest assembly of his works to date. The exhibition unfolds through six thematic sections: Sidewalk Stories, Street Nihonga, Tule Lake Memory-Scape, Multiple Ground Zeros, Affinities and Connections, and Entangled Memories. Traveling across Sacramento, Hiroshima, Tule Lake, and New York—and fusing Japanese painting aesthetics with street materials in collaboration with passersby and neighbors—Mirikitani’s art invites us to engage with his extraordinary life stories beyond national divides, emphasizing artmaking’s power as a means of survival, political expression, and cross-cultural dialogue.

Street Nihonga is co-curated by KU Associate Professor of Japanese Art Maki Kaneko and Spencer Curator of Global Contemporary & Asian Art Kris Ercums.

There is an accompanying virtual exhibition with additional research and resources available in English and Japanese.

After its run at the Spencer Museum a smaller iteration of Street Nihonga is toured by International Arts & Artists, Washington, DC, to University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, Museum of Art & University Galleries; Mitaka City Gallery of Art, Mitaka, Japan; and Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima, Japan.

Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani
untitled (“Mt. Fuji” and flames in homage to Hayami Gyoshū)
after 2001
Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani
untitled (Tule Lake collage)
2002
Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani
untitled (World Trade Center and Kannon)
2005
Drawing of a tri-colored cat with its tail wrapped around smaller, black-and-white cat with fish and leaves nearby
Drawing of a tri-colored cat with its tail wrapped around smaller, black-and-white cat with fish and leaves nearby
Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani
untitled (mother cat and baby cat)
date unknown
Black-and-white photograph of a young Asian man looking at a hanging scroll depicting a hawk on a pine tree
Black-and-white photograph of a young Asian man looking at a hanging scroll depicting a hawk on a pine tree
untitled (Mirikitani looking at his painting)
late 1940s
Drawing of a red and orange carp with a white stripe along its back and a purple and blue flower above it
Drawing of a red and orange carp with a white stripe along its back and a purple and blue flower above it
Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani
untitled (big carp with purple iris)
date unknown
Drawing of buildings facing a cemetery in a field; a chain-link fence separates this area from a large mountain with a cross at the peak that partially covers a red sun
Drawing of buildings facing a cemetery in a field; a chain-link fence separates this area from a large mountain with a cross at the peak that partially covers a red sun
Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani
untitled (Tule Lake: Cemetery)
2002
Collage with a drawing of a deity flanked by flames standing above a domed building engulfed in swirling flames and smoke; a variety of photographs are pasted in the top right
Collage with a drawing of a deity flanked by flames standing above a domed building engulfed in swirling flames and smoke; a variety of photographs are pasted in the top right
Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani
untitled (Atomic Bomb Dome and Kannon)
2001
Drawing of a domed building with a cross on top enveloped in swirling red and yellow flames and black smoke
Drawing of a domed building with a cross on top enveloped in swirling red and yellow flames and black smoke
Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani
untitled (Atomic Bomb Dome with cross)
date unknown
Drawing of a sleeping cat surrounded by white cloud-like shapes
Drawing of a sleeping cat surrounded by white cloud-like shapes
Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani
untitled (“Cat of Foujita”)
2011
Collage with a drawing of house with a bearded man on the side and photos of an Asian man in a red hat and a young Asian boy holding a sword
Collage with a drawing of house with a bearded man on the side and photos of an Asian man in a red hat and a young Asian boy holding a sword
Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani
untitled (childhood daruma)
2002
Collage with a drawing of a cat looking toward a fishbowl surrounded by photographs, including several of an Asian man wearing a hat with different people
Collage with a drawing of a cat looking toward a fishbowl surrounded by photographs, including several of an Asian man wearing a hat with different people
Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani
untitled (Mirikitani age 91)
2011
Drawing of a white cat with black stripes crawling next to a bamboo stalk with leaves
Drawing of a white cat with black stripes crawling next to a bamboo stalk with leaves
Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani
untitled (white tiger cat with blue eyes, bamboo)
date unknown
Drawing on a wooden panel of a hawk on a tree with red blossoms and a green bamboo stalk in the lower right corner
Drawing on a wooden panel of a hawk on a tree with red blossoms and a green bamboo stalk in the lower right corner
Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani
untitled (hawk and Plum Tree)
before 2001
Collage with photographs of a white woman and Asian man pasted on the top left corner of a drawing of an office building engulfed in fire and smoke
Collage with photographs of a white woman and Asian man pasted on the top left corner of a drawing of an office building engulfed in fire and smoke
Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani
untitled (World Trade Center, peace)
after 2006
Collage featuring a photograph of two men standing in front of a painting of a hawk next to images of a vase and older men with the text “The Cats of Mirikitani”
Collage featuring a photograph of two men standing in front of a painting of a hawk next to images of a vase and older men with the text “The Cats of Mirikitani”
Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani
untitled (Kampo Cultural Center)
after 2007
Collage with a large drawing of a turtle at the center, surrounded by photographs of everyday people and world leaders
Collage with a large drawing of a turtle at the center, surrounded by photographs of everyday people and world leaders
Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani
untitled (big turtle table collage)
after 2002

Supporters

This exhibition and related programs are supported by the Henry Luce Foundation, the Terra Foundation for American Art, the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, the Linda Inman Bailey Exhibition and Programming Fund, the Douglas County Community Foundation, the University of Kansas Office of Research, University of Kansas Student Senate, the Kress Foundation Department of Art History, George and Hillary Hirose, Margaret Silva, Judy Paley, the International Artist in Residence Program Fund, the Marilyn J. Stokstad Spencer Museum Publications Fund, Arts Research Integration, and Friends of the Art Museum.

Logo for the Henry Luce Foundation
Logo for the Terra Foundation for American Art
Logo for the National Endowment for the Arts
Logo for the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation

Exhibition Resources

View full exhibition record

Explore this exhibition in our online collection to find a complete object list, label text, and additional images.

Street Nihonga exhibition catalogue

This exhibition has an accompanying exhibition catalogue that features 163 color illustrations alongside scholarly essays and reflections. Copies are available for sale at the Spencer Museum.

Explore the virtual exhibition

An accompanying virtual exhibition presents additional research and resources in English and Japanese.

View Ayomi Yoshida's commission for this exhibition, The River of Time

The Spencer commissioned international artist-in-residence Ayomi Yoshida to create a work responding to Street Nihonga and Brush, Block, and Blood.