Modernism, which was born in Paris and came of age in New York after World War II, was one of Europe's most successful cultural exports of the 20th century, making it to South Africa, Vietnam, Brazil . . . and Japan.

Japan's assimilation of Western art began with the Meiji Restoration. Japanese artists made trips to Europe; many stayed, like Yuzo Saeki, but others such as Seiki Kuroda and Chu Asai returned home to teach the theory and practice of emerging Western art forms. In 1871 Togai Kawakami published his influential "A Guide to Western Style Painting," and reproductions of foreign art works appeared in progressive journals, such as Shirakaba (founded 1910). The term yoga(literally "Western picture") became synonymous with novelty, while nihonga ("Japanese picture") stood for tradition.

A new exhibition, "Selected Works from Oil Paintings and Watercolors," showing at the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, till March 7, looks at the troubled relationship between these two artistic schools.