The Verey Gallery will be open as part of the Eton Action Fair on Saturday 18th March from 11am until 4pm, giving a further opportunity to see the exhibition The Nijūichidaishū: Japan’s Imperial Waka Poetry Anthology.

This exhibition centres on a Japanese object in the Eton College Collections: a lacquer box containing a copy of the Nijūichidaishū (‘Collections of Twenty-one Reigns or Eras’). It is an anthology of poetry, called waka, compiled by imperial command between the 10th and 15th centuries. This manuscript copy of the anthology was given to Eton in 1921 by the Japanese Crown Prince Hirohito (later Emperor Showa) after his visit to Eton in 1921.

The exhibition focuses on the crown prince’s visit to Eton College, Japanese courtly culture and waka poetry through objects from the College Collections and loans from the Ashmolean and British Museums.

The exhibition will also be open as usual on Sunday 19th March, and Sunday afternoons until 16 April.