Tokyo National Museum
Japan’s oldest national museum, in Tokyo. See Tokyo.
At a glance
| Source | Author | Role | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hunchback | Saou Ichikawa | subject | Site of the 1974 Mona Lisa spray-paint protest that gives the novel its central image. |
Hunchback — Saou Ichikawa (2023)
Source: Hunchback · Readwise highlight
red spray paint while it was on loan at the Tokyo National Museum.
- Role: subject
- In the book: Shaka, planning a dissertation, discusses Tomoko Yonezu, who sprayed red paint at the Mona Lisa while it was on loan to the museum. She ties the act to the clash over abortion law between women’s groups and disability advocates. Later she likens Tanaka’s words to red spray paint and herself to the Mona Lisa.
- Why it matters: Shaka never visits the museum and says she hates museums. Still, the incident there supplies the novel’s governing metaphor of vandalism and exposure, so it matters as the site of an event, not as a setting.