Tokuko Tajima
Museum of Possible Evidence
I create ceramic artifacts that appear to be material evidence from Japanese myths, folktales and popular beliefs.
Rather than illustrating stories, I imagine the objects that those stories might have left behind.
Within the context of historical Japanese collections, these fictional artifacts occupy an uncertain territory between documentation and invention, inviting viewers to question how cultural memory is constructed.
ABOUT
WORKS
Fictional Artifacts
Inspired by the Japanese tradition of Yubikiri Genman—the ritual of sealing a promise with the little finger—this work explores the relationship between vows, the body and social power. One hundred ceramic little fingers.
One Hundred Little Fingers of Promise (2025)
Terracotta with glazed fingernails, Paulownia wood boxes
Each piece: 6 × 1.8 × 1.8 cm / Installation: 100 pieces (100 × 100 cm)
Japanese Bath in a Roman Tub
A Roman bathtub containing a miniature Japanese onsen, imagining a fictional relic where two bathing cultures coexist within a shared ritual space.
Glazed terracotta, 22 × 18 × 13.5 cm, 2024
Sandals of Princess Kaguya
A pair of imagined zōri associated with Princess Kaguya, embedding lunar imagery and symbolic patterns of protection and growth drawn from folklore.
Glazed terracotta, 14 × 7 × 5.5 cm (pair), 2024
For seventeen years, a calico cat shared the artist’s life—long enough, according to Japanese folklore, to become a Nekomata, a cat spirit.
Nō Masks for a Wise Cat (2024)
Glazed terracotta, Koomote: 13×10×6 cm / Hashihime: 16×13×7 cm
Rocket of Princess Kaguya
8.5 × 4 × 5.5 cm, 2025
Navels Left Behind by Thunder God, variable dimensions (1.5–3.5 cm), 2024
Carp-Shaped Submarine
8 × 4 × 8.8 cm, 2025
Four-and-a-Half Tatami Room
19×19×21.5 cm, 2025
Ear Torn from a Ghost
9 × 5 × 2 cm, 2024
Kit for Protection Against Oni
11 × 16 × 2 cm, 2024
Boat of the Tiny Hero
11 × 9 × 7 cm, 2024
Wish-Granting Hammer
9.5 × 13 × 5 cm, 2024
Crane Comb
14.5 × 7.5 × 1 cm, 2025
Baby Shoes of Princess Kaguya
4 × 3.5 × 4 cm (pair), 2024
Nō Masks for a Wise Cat (HASHIHIME)
13 × 10 × 6 cm, 2025
If ancient Japanese folklore were treated as historical fact, what material traces would remain? This exhibition presented ceramic artifacts as fictional evidence, inviting viewers to question the boundary between myth, history and material culture.
CONTACT
Tokuko Tajima is a Japanese artist based in Genoa, Italy. Her work explores the boundary between evidence and imagination through fictional artifacts inspired by Japanese myths, folklore and popular beliefs.
E-MAIL ADDRESS:
Instagram: @tokuko.tajima
info@tokukotajima.com
© 2026 Tokuko Tajima. All rights reserved.
