In 1928, Japanese art historians began the reconstruction of the Tokyo Imperial Household Museum, which had been damaged in the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake. A restoration committee was established with the aim of building the “greatest Oriental museum.” Conventionally at the museum, the notion of the “Orient” encompassed China, Korea, and India. However, during the reconstruction, the committee decided to broaden this scope to include regions extending as far as Persia.

This paper examines the Keimeikai 10th Anniversary Exhibition of Oriental Art, held in September 1928, and argues that the representation of “Persian art” in this exhibition is pivotal in understanding the redefinition of the “Orient” within Japan’s art scene. By analyzing the categorization of “Persian art” and the lectures delivered by art historians, this paper explores how this event contributed to shifting Japan’s art historical discourses and expanding the boundaries of the “Orient” in the early 20th century.

Ruth St. Denis is recognized as a pioneer of modern dance in the early twentieth century. Raised in New Jersey, she had only indirect exposure to India and Japan, and her work has attracted criticism for its supposed Orientalism. Nevertheless, it can be argued that by incorporating an "Oriental" setting into her work, St. Denis created a dance-centric stage that transcended traditional narratives and musical constraints. A recurring theme emerges from her works, such as "Radha" (1906), which is centered around the Indian deity Krishna’s lover and "Omika" (1913), which focuses on a Japanese courtesan, where a woman initially perceived as profane ultimately transforms into a divine figure. During her press tours in Asia (1925-1926), Japanese audiences found the depictions of their own culture somewhat puzzling while still being captivated by dances that related to Eastern themes from outside Japan. It would suggest that St. Denis’s interpretation of the "Orient" likely aligns with theosophical meditation, which has fostered an interest in the concept of cosmic rhythm within her choreography.

The founder of macrobiotics, George Ohsawa (1893–1966), is also known as Sakurazawa Nyoiti. Rather than being recognised as a nutritionist, he is acknowledged as an important figure in the introduction of Far Eastern and Japanese cultures. His publication Principe unique de la Philosophie et de la Science d'Extrême-Orient in 1931 elucidated the distinctive origins of Asian thought in a readily comprehensible manner, attracting a considerable following of devoted French-speaking readers. Subsequent to the favourable reception of this publication, he proceeded to release le Livre des fleurs, which elucidates Japanese aesthetics through flowers. Far Eastern and Japanese cultures have hitherto been exclusively understood from a Western point of view in Europe. Sakurazawa employed French as a means of entering into and engaging with French discourse and endeavoured to transform the discourse of Japonisme, which expanded throughout France in the latter half of the nineteenth century.

The concepts of modern Japanese art, such as ‘Japanese painting’, were introduced via contact with the ‘Occident’ in the early Meiji period. In the Taisho period (1912-1926), when such trends had somewhat settled down, discourses on Japanese art focusing on the ‘Orient’ began to flourish. The magazine Shirakaba (1910-1923), which was at the forefront of introducing 'Occidental' art into Japan, was interested in the art of the ‘Orient’ and later developed the ‘folk art movement’ using Asia as its starting point. Also, Toa Geijutsu (1914) was launched as the only magazine which specialize in ‘Oriental’ art, with the consciousness of ‘Occident’. By examining discourses on ‘Oriental’ art in these magazines, this study aims to examine how Japanese art around 1920 perceived and utilized the ‘Orient(s)’ and to understand how the concepts of the ‘Orient(s)’ were developed in Japan and Asia, in relation to the ‘Occident’, regarding the political, social and cultural context of the time.