Sumida Hokusai Museum, Tokyo

Opened in 2016, the “Sumida Hokusai Museum” is a new-style sightseeing spot where you can enjoy the Edo period‘s Ukiyoe (Nishikie) and paintings in a modern building. You can see the Tokyo Skytree from the top floor of the building, and it has become a hot topic as a new landmark in downtown Tokyo.
Although this museum is compact and has a small number of exhibits, it is also close to the Edo-Tokyo Museum and Ryogoku Kokugikan, which are perfect for inclusion in a tourist course. The contents of the exhibition can be viewed on a touch screen, and you can view Hokusai documents at the library. There are things satisfying from general tourists to Hokusai fans.
Katsushika Hokusai, a great artist born in Sumida, Tokyo, loved to draw from a young age. As a Ukiyoe artist, sometimes a cartoonist, sometimes as a designer, Hokusai’s life has always been filled with curiosity and inquisitiveness, which lasted until he died at about 90 years old.
Katsushika Hokusai was born in 1760 in the land called Honjowarigesui in Sumida Ward (near the present Kamezawa). There are also episodes of the ascension that spend most of his life in 90 years in Sumida and have moved 93 times in it. The fact that the scenery of Sumida is drawn in many of the works also shows that Hokusai was attached to Sumida.
Hokusai had often changed his name after becoming an artist. He used 32 picture names in all, such as “Shunro”, “Hokusai”, “Iitsu” and “Gakyorojin Manji”. The name “Hokusai” was widely known at that time, so it is still used today. Such episodes are also unique to Hokusai who constantly sought change and created new things.
This museum is a 9-minute walk from Japan Railway Ryogoku Station. The “Sumida Hokusai Museum”, which opened in November 2016 exactly where Hokusai was born, is a place where you can learn Hokusai’s personalities and unexpected works as well as the precious collection of Hokusai. It is also popular with people, tourists and foreigners.
The museum, which is integrated with the park, has a distinctive shape like a three-dimensional alphabet. In consideration of preservation of Ukiyo-e work, although it is closed as a whole, the slit part that divides the building slowly can show the inside of the hall from the slit part, and it shows that it is an art museum opened to the area.

Only a special museum in Japan that deals Hokusai’s works alone

“Sumida Hokusai Museum” located in Sumida Ward, Tokyo, is an art museum exhibiting works of Katsushika Hokusai, an Ukiyoe painter in the Edo Period, which was opened in 2016. Surprisingly, there is only a special museum in Japan that deals Hokusai’s works alone. The reason why the Hokusai Museum of Art was built in Sumida Ward is that it is the land where he spent most of his life and is familiar from the local people.

Sharp line are innovative impression here

Speaking of an ukiyo-e art museum imagines an old-fashioned building, but the outer wall of aluminum and the sharp line are innovative impression here. Because of the mirror finish, the surrounding scenery is reflected in the building, and it is devised so that the state of the inside can be seen from the cut portion.

One of Japan’s leading artists

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) is an artist in the late Edo period. A lot of ukiyo-e prints of brush and printing are also left, but the famous one is “Fugaku Sanjurokkei” (Thirty-six Sceneries of Mt. Fuji) series of Nishiki-e (colored woodblock print). Especially, the “Kanagawa oki namiura” (drawing Mt. Fuji with boats tossed about by a large wave) which is small and the Mt. Fuji can be seen on the far side where big waves stand is especially famous. Some of the works of about 30,000 pieces left in the life of nearly 90 years passed overseas, and in particular influenced the local painters in Europe. In recent years, attention has been paid so much that the Hokusai Exhibition will be held at the British Museum and he can be said to be one of Japan’s leading artists.

The Ryogoku bridge at the time and local shrines

It is said that Hokusai moved 93 times over his lifetime, but it is said that he has never come out from Sumida Ward neighborhood. For that reason, many works depicting the Ryogoku bridge at the time and local shrines etc are left. In addition, the surname “Katsushika” was taken from “the Katsushika district of Musashi Province” of the area name including Sumida-ku.

It’s a good idea to stop by buying a souvenir

You can enter the museum shop on the 1st floor of the museum without the admission ticket. Handling is not only the catalog of exhibitions but also goods made with motif of ukiyo-e, mainly Hokusai. Crafts made in Sumida-ku can also be purchased, so it’s a good idea to stop by buying a souvenir.

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