This is the entrance of the Sumida Hokusai Mueum.
The museum was established on November 22, 2016, in honor of an outstanding ukiyo-e artist KATSUSHIKA Hokusai (1760～1849) who was born in Honjo-Wari-Gesui, present Kamezawa area, in Sumida ward and spent most of his life there. Hokusai created a great number of works of woodblock prints and paintings.
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The exhibition features Hokusai's masterpieces as well as his life and episodes through real-sized replicas and it is on view from Dec. 15, 2022 ～Feb.26, 2023.
*Special exhibition : A replica of the scrolled painting below titled "Scenery of Both Banks of the river Sumida" is now displayed. The seven-meter long scrolled painting returned from France after a one-hundred-year blank.
Asakusa Mt.Tsukuba Yoshiwara
*Special exhibition : Hokusai at Play with the 100 Poems, which Hokusai produced nishiki-e featuring "One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets 百人一首" which were compiled by FUJIWARA no Teika, a poet in the 13th century.
Hokusai produced "One Hundred Poems Explained by a Nurse" with pictorial explanations so that anyone could understand it.
In the mid-Edo era, kyoka poems which were a parody of waka that containd social satire, irony, and humor in 31 syllables gained popularity among general citizens. Hokusai produced 'Nishiki-e' which referred to multi-colored woodblock prints, which was so expensive that general citizens couldn't afford to buy them. Consequently Hokusai ended up creating twenty-seven Nishiki-e prints of the one hundred prints to be published.
*Several Hokusai's books such as "Hokusai Manga" and "Drawing Manuals" are displayed so that you can turn pages with your own fingers.
*I picked out three masterpieces from the series "Thirty-Six View of Mount Fuji" which Hokusai depicted Mount Fuji from various locations, different seasons and weather conditions and were published by NISHIMURA Yohachi, a publisher, from 1830 to 1832, when Hokusai was in his seventies at the height of his career.
Katsushika Hokusai, Under the Wave off Kanagawa, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, The Sumida Hokusai Museum
The print is one of the most well known in the series.
My heart beats fast when I see the boat crew being so scary on the verge of overturns by roaring waves.
Hokusai contrasted big waves at the forefront with Mt. Fuji which was depicted extremally small.
Katsushika Hokusai, A Mild Breeze on a Fine Day, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, The Sumida Hokusai Museum
What a striking composition!! Hokusai featured symmetrically shaped Mt. Fuji on the right half of the image, balancing with the clouds in the sky.
Katsushika Hokusai, Rainstorm Beneath the Summit, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, The Sumida Hokusai Museum
Hokusai used a similar composition to that of "Fine Wind, Clear Morning". But he depicted the changeable weather around Mt. Fuji. It's no doubt that the zigzag lightning fascinates anybody who stands in front of the print.
For more information please access the museum .
On the way back from the museum, we dropped in at a rahmen shop. It was 1000 yen with many pieces of Nori seaweed, which was good!!
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