The Shosoin exhibition, 2026

The short answer

• When: 24 October to 9 November 2026, every day.
• Hours: 08:00–18:00; until 20:00 on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. Last entry an hour before closing.
• Price: ¥2,000 for adults, or ¥1,500 with a late-entry slot.
• Book: a timed ticket, on the official English ticket site. Same-day tickets exist only if a slot has room.
• Least crowded: early morning or evening, and a little after your slot opens.

Tickets

Late-entry prices apply to timed tickets from 16:00 Monday to Thursday, and from 17:00 on Fridays, weekends and public holidays. That is ¥500 off every ticket, which for a family of two adults and two children is ¥2,000.

Free: children below school age; holders of a Japanese disability certificate or Mirairo ID, with one carer — these visitors need no timed ticket, only proof at the door. Visitors aged 70 and over pay the adult price and need a timed ticket like everyone else.

There is a fourth price almost nobody can use: ¥400 for students of the museum's partner universities. Only for students of the universities in the museum's Campus Members scheme, and only at the on-site counter with a physical student card — a digital one may not be accepted. Buy the ordinary ticket by mistake and there is no refund.

Buying from outside Japan

• The official ticket site has an English version.
• It takes Visa, Mastercard, JCB, American Express, UnionPay, Alipay. Card payments need a card enrolled in 3-D Secure 2; cards without it are refused.
• Show the QR code on your phone, or print the ticket at home on A4 or Letter paper. Black and white is fine.
• Up to 8 tickets per order. Tickets cannot be changed, cancelled, refunded or reissued.
• Timed tickets are sold up to the start of each slot. If a slot still has room on the day, the museum sells it at a special counter for an extra ¥200 per ticket, but the slot you want may already be gone.

What has already gone

Three add-on tickets were offered when booking opened on 4 September and all three are now sold out. The ordinary timed tickets are unaffected. If you have read about one of them elsewhere, this is why you cannot find it:

• Curator's lecture plus admission, ¥3,000 — Four dates, 180 seats each, a 30-minute lecture then free viewing.
• Limited-colour tenugui hand towel plus admission, ¥4,310 — 400 made, in a colour sold only with this ticket.
• Dinner and talk with the museum's director, plus a private morning viewing — Three evenings at the Noborioji Hotel, eight places each.

Checked 16 October.

Which slot to book

The museum expects queues to get in, and crowded galleries, from the morning until 15:00. It suggests the early morning or evening slots instead.

Each slot is busiest just after it opens, so the museum recommends arriving a little after your slot's start time. There is no time limit once you are in, and no turnover between slots.

The late-entry slots are the quiet ones and the cheap ones at once. On 9 of the 17 days — Fridays, weekends and the 3 November holiday — the museum stays open until 20:00. Even the last slot, 18:30–19:00, leaves at least an hour inside.

Day by day

The audio guide, and the one in English

The rental unit at the entrance to the exhibition costs ¥700 and runs in Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean. About 30 minutes, with the museum's own curator speaking on the Persian lacquer ewer.

There is also a phone app at ¥800, and this is the part worth knowing before you arrive: the app is Japanese only. The 'Kiku Bijutsu' app version is Japanese only, and runs 24 October to 13 December 2026. For English you need the rental unit at the museum.

The free lectures

The museum gives two public lectures during the exhibition, free of charge, in Japanese. 180 seats each, 13:30–15:00, doors 13:00, in the museum's auditorium. Free, but by ballot and web application only. A winning email is the pass; it does not admit you to the exhibition, which still needs a timed ticket.

One ballot is still open: 7 November, applications close 26 October.

Getting there

• From Kintetsu-Nara station: about 15 minutes on foot, heading east along Noborioji.
• From Kintetsu-Nara or JR Nara station: city loop bus, outer loop, to Himuro-jinja / Kokuritsu-hakubutsukan, which stops right outside.

There are no coin lockers inside the museum. Use the lockers or luggage services outside it. The nearest are at Kintetsu-Nara station, along with a luggage service that stops taking bags at 14:00. The museum has no car park and asks visitors not to come by car.

The Nara Buddhist Sculpture Hall is closed for renovation. The Chinese Ritual Bronzes Gallery is open and free.

The same fortnight in Nara

The maples. The exhibition ends before the leaves usually peak. In 1 of the last 15 seasons, the meteorological agency's maple in Nara had turned by 9 November. Check your own dates against the record.

The deer antler cutting. It is on 7 November and 8 November, a short walk away in the grounds of Kasuga Taisha. Times, tickets and what happens.

Todai-ji, where the Shosoin stands, is next door. Which of its tickets are worth buying.

Questions people ask

Sources

• Nara National Museum — 78th Annual Exhibition of Shōsō-in Treasures
• Official online tickets, in English (Etix)
• Nara National Museum — access

Read from the Nara National Museum's exhibition page and the official English ticket site. Re-read on 16 October 2026, eight days before opening: dates, hours, prices and slots were unchanged, and the three add-on tickets had sold out. The exhibition is held once a year and every detail changes with each edition, so nothing here carries over to next year.