21English
EditionMar. 26 Fri. 2021 No.21

Special Exhibition

The Mount Fuji Challenges:

Hokusai and Hiroshige Saturday, April 24 to Sunday, June 20, 2021
Special Exhibition Gallery, 1FHighlights, 2
Hokusai’s Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji
— All Forty-six on Display!
Hokusai’s Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji are beloved by people throughout theworld; they have become the works of art that symbolize Japan. Indeed, thesepictures are becoming ever more familiar to people in Japan as well, with Under theWave off Kanagawa, also known as the Great Wave, scheduled to be used on theback of the new thousand yen note starting in fiscal 2024.

Highlights, 3
It’s Really Amazing: The Edo-Tokyo Museum Collection

South Wind, Clear Sky, also known as Red Fuji, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji
Katsushika Hokusai, c. 1831-33

Our museum has held many exhibitions of ukiyo-e, an iconic aspect of Edo culture.
This time we are taking a new approach: a special exhibition, displaying only works
from the collection, entitled The Mount Fuji Challenges: Hokusai and Hiroshige.
The leading figures in this exhibition are two rival geniuses in landscape painting,
Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) and Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858). This
awe-inspiring display of ukiyo-e includes masterworks by both artists.

The works of art and related materials in this exhibition are all from the museum’scollection. The Thirty-six View of Mount Fuji and Fifty-three Stations of the TōkaidōRoad series, The Pine Grove at Miho, a painting Hiroshige never parted with, and his
beloved tobacco pouch and other artifacts are all of great significance. Moreover,opportunities to see these series of work in one setting are quite rare, yet as a bodythey cannot be overlooked in any discussion of ukiyo-e.
This exhibition is an attempt to bring to the fore how boldly both Hokusai andHiroshige took up the challenge of the landscape picture. Please enjoy the fruits of
their daring and determination—a plentitude of masterpieces.
(Koyama Shūko, Curator)

Highlights, 1
An Innovative Hokusai and Hiroshige Exhibition Viewing
Works as a Story
The story begins with a painting, The Pine Grove at Miho, that Utagawa Hiroshige(then Andō Tokutarō) painted when he was ten years old. Tokutarō’s dream was tobecome good at painting. He was born into a samurai-class family, but, to make his
dream come true, he became an apprentice to Utagawa Toyohiro. But standing in
his way was a towering competitor: the artistic genius Katsushika Hokusai.
In Section 1, we explore a large group of works by Hokusai, dating from his
late twenties to his sixties. Section 2 presents Hokusai’s Thirty-six Views of MountFuji, a series that that Hiroshige
probably viewed with astonishment.
Section 3 begins with Fifty-three
Stations of the Tōkaidō Road, a series
published when Hiroshige was in hislate thirties. Through his highlyindividual depictions of famous places,Hiroshige was growing into a painterwho made landscapes the core of hiswork. The final section presents theimages of Mount Fuji that Hiroshige
produced after Hokusai’s death. Inthem we can glimpse Hiroshige’s
competitive spirit and unceasing
willingness to take up challenges.

Painting, The Pine Grove at Miho

Andō Tokutarō (Utagawa Hiroshige), 1806

Hara: Mount Fuji in the Morning, from the series Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō Road
Utagawa Hiroshige, c. 1834-36

Information
Opening hours: 9:30 am to 5:30 pm (Saturdays until 7:30 pm) *Admission until 30 minutes before close＊The opening hours may change. Please check the Edo-Tokyo Museum website for the latest
information.
Days Closed: Mondays (but open April 26, and May 3)
Organized by: Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture The Tokyo Metropolitan Edo-Tokyo
Museum, The Asahi Shimbun
Admission fee (incl. tax)

AdultUniversity/college students
Middle and high school students. Seniors 65+Tokyo middle and elementary school students

Special exhibition only
¥1,000 (¥800)¥800 (¥640)¥500 (¥400)¥500 (¥400)

Special and permanent exhibition¥1,280 (¥1,020)¥1,020 (¥810 )¥640 (¥510)
None

Advance tickets for special exhibition only
¥800
¥640
¥400
¥400

Notes

• Fees in parentheses are for groups of twenty or more.
• The admission fee is free in the following cases. Preschool children. Anyone who has a physical disability certificate,
intellectual disability certificate, rehabilitation certificate, mental health and welfare certificate, or an official designation as
an atomic bomb survivor, as well as their attending caregivers (up to two people).
• There is no special exhibition & permanent exhibition ticket for elementary school students and junior high school
students who live or study in Tokyo because the permanent exhibition admission fee is free for them.
• Advance tickets will be on sale between Tuesday, May 2 and Friday, April 23, at the Edo-Tokyo Museum ticket office.

From the Permanent Exhibition Area

Featured Exhibition

Gifts from the Citizens 2020
— A selection of new acquisitions in 2019
Tuesday, March 9 to Sunday, May 9, 2021
First rotation: Tuesday, March 9 to Sunday, April 4, 2021 Second rotation: Tuesday, April 6, to Sunday, May 9, 2021
Permanent Exhibition, 5th Floor Feature Exhibition Room *Items on display may change during the exhibition.

Tsutaya Jūsaburō with five images of the full moon by Kitagawa Utamaro. Tokyo Sports
Center of the Orient was produced in 1933, when Japan was engaged in bidding to hostthe Olympics for the first time.
These new acquisitions indicate how remarkably varied the Edo-Tokyo Museum
collection is. We invite you to enjoy exploring its world. (Awaya Tomoko, Curator)

Picture Scroll Depicting a Buddhist Service Hakkō (Eight Lectures on the Lotus Sutra)in the Momijiyama Tōshōgū Shrine
Mid Edo period

The museum collects artifacts related to the history and culture of Edo and Tokyo andconserves them for future generations. It also conducts research on the various kindsof information that those artifacts carry and presents the results of those studies in its
exhibitions and other formats.
This exhibition is an opportunity for visitors to see some of the artifacts themuseum has newly acquired. In 2019 and 2020, the museum was able to add manynew items to the collection. This exhibition introduces a selection of them, withgratitude to the citizens who donated some of these artifacts.
In 1745, Tokugawa Yoshimune, the eighth Tokugawa shogun, held a lavish 130th
Buddhist memorial service for Tokugawa Ieyasu. The gorgeous Picture Scroll Depicting
a Buddhist Service Hakkō (Eight Lectures on the Lotus Sutra) in the Momijiyama
Tōshōgū Shrine depicts the processions carried out for Yoshimune and others to takepart in that service. Kurodana Shelf in Black Lacquer with Design of Crane, Turtle, Pine,Bamboo, Plum, and Shippō Tsunagi (interlocking circles) Pattern with Aoichōmon
Crest in Maki-e is a piece of bridal funiture to display a woman’s toiletries. The MusuiDokugen (Musui’s Monologue) is a vitally important autobiography by Katsu Kaishū’s
father Kokichi (1802-1850) in which he describes his lifetime. Kyōgetsubō (TheMoon-Mad Monk) is a splendid illustrated book of kyōka (comic poem) published byKurodana Shelf in Black
Lacquer with Design of Crane,Turtle, Pine, Bamboo, Plum,and Shippō Tsunagi(interlocking circles) Patternwith Aoichōmon Crest in
Maki-ec. 1864

Kyōgetsubō(The Moon-Mad Monk)
Kitagawa Utamaro, 1789