“Hokusai at Play with the 100 Poems”: Second Half of Ukiyo-e Exhibition Begins! from January 24, 2023

2023.01.18

Press release
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The Sumida Hokusai Museum in Tokyo will hold the second half of the Ukiyo-e exhibition "Hokusai at Play with the 100 Poems" from January 24, 2023. This exhibition focuses on Hokusai’s One Hundred Poems Explained by a Nurse, joined by a wide range of other works of art related to One Hundred Poets, One Hundred Poems, in introducing that anthology. You will enjoy these works, in which the powers of One Hundred Poets, One Hundred Poems and of Hokusai cross-fertilize and multiply.

Exhibition title: Hokusai at Play with the 100 Poems

Second-term: Jan 24, 2023 - Feb 26, 2023

Open：Tuesday - Sunday 9:30-17:30（Last admission 17:00）

Closed: Mondays

Organizers: Sumida City, The Sumida Hokusai Museum

Official Exhibition Website: https://hokusai-museum.jp/100PoemsEN/

■Exhibition Highlights

Hokusai’s last series in the oban nishiki-e format, One Hundred Poems Explained by a Nurse.

* Oban nishiki-e (“Brocade pictures”): large format of multicolor woodblock prints

The Sumida Hokusai Museum's collection of One Hundred Poems Explained by a Nurse series will be exhibited with twenty-three prints in the first and second halves of this exhibition！

Around 1835, plans were made for a series of prints, One Hundred Poems Explained by a Nurse. In what became Hokusai’s last series in the oban nishiki-e format, twenty-seven prints were published. The difficulty of interpreting the pictures Hokusai created for the series, among other reasons, led to only twenty-seven of the planned one hundred prints being published.

■Exhibition Overview

One Hundred Poets, One Hundred Poems, an anthology of waka poems complied in the thirteenth century, had become a standard part of general education by the mid-Edo period. Moreover, those wakas (“Japanese poem”) share the same format as the satirical kyoka poems then popular and also share their use of parodies and analogies; those similarities helped the anthology gain even greater presence in that period. That social context inspired the idea of creating pictorial explanations of the poems in a way that anyone could understand. The result was Hokusai’s One Hundred Poems Explained by a Nurse, his last series in the oban nishiki-e format. Hokusai, expressing his unique worldview, had included his own ideas in these prints as well as the usual traditions about the poems and poets and the conventional images associated with them.

■Museum Exclusively Original Flavor Joined, Hokusai Ramen “Chicken Salt”!

The highly popular instant noodles “Hokusai Ramen” has been joined by an original “chicken salt” flavor sold exclusively at the Sumida Hokusai Museum. Noodles are low-calorie that using a special "low-temperature mist drying" method for maturing. While most non-fly(air-dried) instant noodles are dried quickly at high temperatures, this product is slowly dried and matured in a low-temperature mist dryer, giving it the aroma and sticky texture of fresh noodles. The original soup has a rich chicken salty flavor made from boiled chicken stock. This set of two meals in a box with a museum information card makes a perfect souvenir of your visit. 2 meals set 735 yen (tax included)

■About Katsushika Hokusai

Japanese Ukiyo-e artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) was born in Sumida, Tokyo. It is said that Hokusai moved more than 90 times during his 90-year life, spending most of his lifetime in Sumida, and left many works depicting the scenery of Sumida, including Ryogoku Bridge, Mimeguri Shrine, and Ushijima Shrine. He vividly captured life in the Edo Period and is best known for the series “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji” which includes representative Japan’s most iconic artwork “Under the Wave off Kanagawa", known internationally as The Great wave. His fascinating life and varied works spanning more than 70 years are more highly regarded today than ever, 160 years after his death. Today, he and his works are in the limelight as one of the most acclaimed artists in the world.

■Request of Visitors Cooperation COVID-19 Infection Prevention

Visitor Guidelines： Health and Safety During Your Visit for Keeping us All Safe

https://hokusai-museum.jp/modules/Topic/topics/view/961?lang=en

Please check before your visit.

■About Museum

The Sumida Hokusai Museum is a “growing museum”.

The museum provides information about Hokusai to the local community and the world

Open：Tuesday - Sunday 9:30-17:30（Last admission 17:00）

Colsed：Mondays (or the following day if it is a national holiday)

Address：2-7-2 Kamezawa, Sumida-ku,Tokyo,130-0014

Tel：03-6658-8936

Official website: https://hokusai-museum.jp/