Museum dedicated to Hokusai opens in Tokyo

TOKYO - A museum dedicated to Japanese woodblock print artist Katsushika Hokusai, creator of some of the most iconic art of the genre, opened Tuesday in the neighborhood he lived in some two centuries ago.

The Sumida Hokusai Museum, in Tokyo’s Sumida ward, features Hokusai in its permanent and feature exhibitions, with works from the collections of Peter Morse, Muneshige Narasaki and Sumida ward itself. Hokusai was born in Sumida around 1760.

Hokusai’s most famous work, “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” of the series “36 Views of Mount Fuji,” is displayed here, along with other well-known pieces including “A Mild Breeze on a Fine Day.”

Morse, an art historian and writer who died in 1993, was a prominent collector of Hokuksai’s work. His son, Daniel, attended the opening ceremony and called the museum “a beautiful home for my father’s collection.”

“My father would be very, very happy, he would be very proud, and very honored,” he said. “I think Hokusai is the greatest artist who ever lived.”

Specially featured works include the 7-meter-long (23-foot-long) “Sumidagawa Ryogan Keshiki Zukan” or “Landscape Scroll of Scenery at Both Banks of the Sumida River,” which was missing for 100 years after being taken abroad.

The museum’s home is a modern five-floor building, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect Kazuyo Sejima, that suggests blocks leaning against each other, with surfaces that softly reflect the surrounding neighborhood.

The museum is located near Edo Tokyo Museum, Ryogoku National Sumo Arena and the Sumida River. The admission fee for the permanent exhibition is 400 yen ($3.60) for adults. It’s open from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. AP