The Sumitomo Foundation is celebrating thirty years of providing funding for the conservation of cultural properties. To mark this occasion, exhibitions of works that have received funding through the foundation will be held across four museums: Sen-oku Hakukokan Museum (Kyoto), Sen-oku Hakukokan Museum, Tokyo (Tokyo), the Kyushu National Museum, and the Tokyo National Museum. The Tokyo National Museum will host a special thematic exhibition featuring Buddhist statues. An impressive number of Buddhist statues have survived to modern times in Japan. In mountainous and rural regions, traditions venerating Buddhist statues attest to the importance these statues held for local communities. This exhibition will present Buddhist statues that have been cherished and handed down by such communities, including those affected by The Great East Japan Earthquake (2011) and The Noto Hanto Earthquake (2007).