In the Pillow Book, a classic of early Japanese literature written by a lady of the Heian court and completed in the year 1002, there is a list of utsukushikimono (cute things) that includes children and baby sparrows. In the visual arts, too, the young of both humans and animals evolved as popular themes, and the first two sections of the exhibition focus on children and animals respectively. The third and final section explores what humans perceive as "kawaii" and how artists use line, color and humor to evoke that response.

While the exhibition's English title (Jakuchu's Adorability and Shoen's Beauty: "Kawaii" in Japanese Art) cites two superstars of Japanese painting, Jakuchu Ito (1716-1800) and Shoen Uemura (1875-1949), the selection is broader than that might suggest, encompassing works by more than 40 highly talented artists selected from five centuries of Japanese art.

The oldest exhibit is a 16th-century scroll painting of anthropomorphic monkeys engaged in human activities such as cooking and caring for horses. It tells the tale of a farmer who foolishly promised his daughter's hand if only someone would help him in the field. A band of monkeys appears magically, but in return for their work they carry the girl off to become a monkey bride. A handsome prince rescues her and all ends happily.

If you time your visit after February 3, when the museum uses a regular closing day to change some of the exhibits, you'll be able to view Jakuchu's famous work Birds and Animals in the Flower Garden, on loan from the Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art. It is a fine example of his masumegaki technique, in which he divided the piece into tiny grids of about one centimeter square and colored them individually. The effect looks positively digital to modern eyes.

Another highlight is Uemura's charming hanging scroll of two girls folding origami paper cranes. Their deep concentration conveys the innocence of childhood pursuits, and the smaller size of the figure on the right makes clear, as does her hairstyle and clothing, that she is still very much a child.

There's something for everyone when it comes to baby animals, whether you prefer dogs, cats or something more exotic. A painting by Suisho Nishiyama (1879-1958) of two napping puppies is a standout; the pup in the foreground is depicted with one eye open, as if just taking notice that the viewer has approached. There is a folding screen by Togyu Okumura (1889-1990) with three fluffy white angora rabbits. When Togyu painted the screen in 1936, the breed was highly unusual in Japan and the artist went to some lengths to find models. Beyond puppies and bunnies, the exhibition offers all sorts of birds, including owls and baby ducks, as well as baby lambs, a newborn calf, and a charming yellow tabby painted by Gyokudo Kawai (1873-1957). Even a rat comes out adorable.

Humor goes a long way in making a work feel cute, as demonstrated by Zeshin Shibata's rendering of a singing frog, who strums an instrument as his froggie friends sing along. From an album titled Bokurin Hikka, this is a fine example of the unusual urushi-e technique of painting with lacquer, which Zeshin (1807-91) invented.

Although a majority of the exhibits are paintings, there are a few woodblock prints and a section with some two dozen tiny cosmetic cases and brushes, all from the collection of the Suntory Museum of Art. These, too, are very much works of art, bearing elaborate designs rendered in very small size with all sorts of materials, ranging from maki-e lacquerwork to shell inlay.

The museum is targeting women with this exhibit, asserting in exhibition materials that it takes a museum with a high percentage of women on staff to put together a show that will appeal so directly to female sensibilities. (The director is a woman as are most of the employees.) The strategy seems to be working; on two recent visits, one on a weekday afternoon and another on a holiday, nearly all the visitors were women.

During the exhibition the café in the lobby is offering a special set with a drink and your choice of five Japanese sweets, hand-formed to evoke specific works in the show (1,000 yen; 1,100 with matcha green tea). The gift shop is well stocked with tiny and adorable offerings at reasonable prices, including refrigerator magnets and rubber stamps with designs from the museum's collection. Even the exhibition catalog is cute, half the usual size and sprinkled with cartoon bubbles that point out salient facts about the works shown.