Sumida Hokusai is a museum dedicated to the work of Katsushika Hokusai (1760 - 1849), the famous painter and ukiyo-e artist who created 'The Great Wave off Kanagawa'.
Opened in 2016, The Sumida Hokusai Museum is located in Sumida City, where Katsushika Hokusai was born, spent most of his life and created all of his work.
Opening times and admission
Open Tuesday to Sunday from 9.30 am to 5.30 pm and closed Mondays and from the 29th of December to the 1st of January. Admission is 400 Yen for adults for the permanent exhibition with an extra fee for the special exhibitions.
The museum is a 7-minute walk from Ryogoku Station on the Oedo Line and a 10-minute walk from Ryogoku Station on the Sobu Line.
It takes 45 minutes to 1 hour to visit. Visiting time may vary depending on the current exhibitions.
The permanent exhibition area, although small compared to other museums, offers a lot of information regarding woodblock prints (nishiki-e) used in ukiyo-e, Hokusai's birthplace and Hokusai sketches.
A few days previous, I paid a visit to Sengakuji Temple, so seeing that there was a potential connection between the Ako Incident and Hokusai was a nice surprise (see photo above).
Along with sketches and reproductions of some of the most well-known prints from the 'Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji ' series, there is also a life-sized model of Hokusai and his daughter Oei in their home. The model was created based on a sketch made by his disciple, Iitsu Tsuyuki.
The tiny gift shop on the first floor has quite a number of items for sale, so if you're a fan of Hokusai's artwork, you might want to allocate an extra 10 minutes just to have a look at what they offer.
Have you ever been there? If so, I would love to hear about it, in the comments below.
I hope life is treating you well.
Take care.