Exhibitions
Hokusai and Hiroshige facing Mount Fuji, two gazes upon an eternal mountain
The Sumida Hokusai Museum is celebrating its first decade with an exhibition dedicated to two of the key figures of Japanese ukiyo-e: Katsushika Hokusai and Utagawa Hiroshige. Titled " Commemorating a Decade: Hokusai and Hiroshige — Two Masters, Two Visions of Mount Fuji ," the exhibition runs until August 30, 2026, and explores the different ways in which both artists depicted one of Japan's most iconic symbols.
Although separated by 37 years in age, Hokusai and Hiroshige have traditionally been considered rivals within landscape art. Both contributed decisively to consolidating meisho-e , the representations of famous places, but they developed clearly differentiated visual languages.
Hokusai transformed landscapes and images of famous places into one of the great genres of ukiyo-e. His compositions are distinguished by their dynamism, the power of their perspectives, and an imagination capable of transforming recognizable scenes into images of enormous impact. Hiroshige, for his part, achieved widespread popularity thanks to a more delicate brushstroke and an approach to landscape characterized by a greater sense of naturalness and serenity.
The exhibition uses Mount Fuji as a point of convergence to compare both artists' sensibilities. The exhibition brings together the main series that the two artists dedicated to the mountain and allows visitors to observe their differences in aspects such as representational techniques, compositional solutions, and possible sources of inspiration.
One of the exhibition's major attractions is the presentation of Hokusai's celebrated series , Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji . For the first time in four years, the museum is offering the opportunity to view the complete series across the two phases of the exhibition. The works are rotated between the first and second periods to ensure their preservation.
In total, all 46 prints from Hokusai's series will be represented during the exhibition, while visitors will also be able to view all 36 works from Hiroshige's Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji . In addition, a second series by the same artist dedicated to Fuji will be included, further expanding the possibility of comparing the two masters.
Beyond simply bringing together iconic works, the exhibition invites viewers to discover what each artist sought when confronted with the same subject. Mount Fuji appears as a constant presence, but never identical: its scale, framing, relationship with the landscape, and the way in which the human figure is placed within the scene all change.
The exhibition thus transforms a recognizable mountain into a territory for artistic experimentation. The various interpretations allow us to appreciate how Hokusai and Hiroshige transformed the Japanese landscape and consolidated a visual tradition that would eventually have an enormous influence far beyond Japan.
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