seeing ukiyo-e (japanese prints)

Hi all,

I like ukiyo-e, I have some reproduction home and 1 or 2 books too. I'd really like to see more of it while I'm in Japan.

Could anyone recommend me museums and/or public display that are worth checking out ?

Many thanks !!

The Ota Museum in Harajuku may be of interest to you:-
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3006.html

Which cities in Japan do you plan on visiting?

Enjoy your trip!

The Edo Tokyo Museum has many on display. But I would guess that the place to view ukiyoe would be the Japan Ukiyoe Museum in Mastumoto.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6050.html

It is about a 2.5 hour trip from Tokyo to Matsumoto by train and while there you can also visit the impressive Matsumoto Castle. I made it to the castle but wasn't able to fit a trip to the museum into my plans. So I can say that even just visiting the castle is worth the train ride from Tokyo.

There is a very small museum of Hiroshige prints in Yui, Shizuoka ken, on Suruga Bay. They have 1,200 prints according to Shizuoka guide, but I have seen only a small number om display at a time. There is also information about how prints were made and you can make your own print of Kanbara station.
Yui is on the old Tokaido Road and the museum is housed in a small former honjin park with lovely landscaping, turtles,Ko, and a tea room. There is a restaurant across the way overlooking the bay and on a clear day, you will have a magnificent Fuji-view. You can also tour some nearby sites that appear in Hirosige's work (Satta Pass, Miho etc.) As I say, it is a small museum, but the view and the area are worth a day trip.

Also- Don't miss the Museum of Modern Art in Atami. They have a nice collection of Japanese art and frequently have outstanding Ukiyo-e exhibits. The museum itself is set on a mountain with a lovely view of the sea and there is a good natural foods restaurant there. Just take the bus from Atami station- too steep to walk if you want energy to tour the museum!

There is a ukiyo-e showrooms where you find more than a thousand of prints in Tokyo, near Ikebukuro.

http://www.adachi-hanga.com/en_ukiyo-e/aboutus.htm#top2

Just reading the English pages I don't quite understand that last link. Are the thousand prints all reproductions?

After the Ota Museum, I'd recommend the Amuse Museum in Asakusa. In addition to small exhibitions (maybe 50-100 works) they show a fascinating 40-minute video focusing on several famous ukiyoe artists and their works.

Re the Adachi showroom, they have both high quality reproductions of Hiroshige and so on and original, modern-style woodblock prints. They're very friendly.

Oops, here's the data for the Amuse Museum: http://whereintokyo.com/venues/25225.html

There's also the Hiroshige Museum of Art in Ena. A bit off the beaten path, but a nice museum dedicated to Hiroshige and, again, very friendly staff.
http://museum.city.ena.gifu.jp/top.html

Thank you very much for all the answers !
Lots to see, that's cool. no route defined yet so I will just planned accordingly.

thanks again!

There is also tiny but good Koishikawa Ukiyoe Museum near Tokyo Dome/Koishikawa Korakuen. Very friendly family atmosphere. They have changing exhibitions each month and are closed around the last week of each month or so.

http://homepage2.nifty.com/3bijin/menu_j.html

Let me know if you need translation help.

http://toyosu.lalaport.jp/en/index.shtml

Does anyone know about this museum listed on the right side of the page towards the bottom?

The museum in Matusomoto rocks! i was there in 2010. do not under estimate the power of seeing a print in person compared to .jpeg.

if you make it out Matsumoto way, take the extra couple of hours to Obuse. Plenty of chestnut treats & the Hokusai museum.

http://www.kotodamaya.com/hokusai-museum/

Maranyc, how's your Japanese?
http://www.ukiyoe-tokyo.or.jp/index.html

Walkingfool, thanks and yes I found that web page - I use rikaichan to translate. I was wondering if anyone had actually been to that museum - it seems a bit off the beaten path in LaLa Port which seems to be a shopping mall - I'm not even sure how to get there but I will try on my next visit to Tokyo.

If you want to buy inexpensive reproductions,
I used to go to JINBOCHO station (Mita, Shinjuku and Hanzomon subway lines). As I recall, go out exit A2. turn left and walk along the street. I remember one place upstairs, but I think there were others.
Lots of used book stores there, too.