The Sumida Hokusai Museum
The Sumida Hokusai museum holds and displays many works of the world-famous Ukiyo-e artist KATSUSHIKA Hokusai born in Sumida Ward, Tokyo. Katsushika Hokusai(1760 to 1849) was born close to Honjo-Wari-Gesui (the current Hokusai-street in Sumida City), and he left behind a large number of outstanding pieces of work while spending most of his about 90-year lifetime within the same ward.
ⒸThe Sumida Hokusai Museum
At the museum introduce the works of Hokusai and his disciples, and explain the connection between Hokusai and Sumida in an easy-to-understand manner. The distinctive and innovative museum exterior covered with aluminum panels had designed by world-renowned architect SEJIMA Kazuyo. We are exploring the diversity of Katsushika Hokusai and introduces unknown charms from various perspectives for the pursuit of a new museum-style.
See also Who is Katsushika Hokusai? What is so great about ‘Great Wave’?
ⒸThe Sumida Hokusai Museum | Photos Owashi Yosuke
Open:Tuesday – Sunday
9:30-17:30
（Last admission 17:00）
Colsed:Mondays
(The following day if it is a national holiday)
New Year holidays: December 29 – January 1
Address: 2-7-2 Kamezawa, Sumida-ku,Tokyo,130-0014
Tel: 03-6658-8936
Official website: https://hokusai-museum.jp/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/THE.SUMIDA.HOKUSAI.MUSEUM/
Museum architecture
The museum has been planned to blend in with the park and the locality to make it easy for people to drop in for a visit. Instead of consisting of just one building, the slits provide gentle divisions to help the outer façade blend in well with the scale of the surrounding downtown district. The gentle slits in the overall structure represent an approach to the first-floor area and are connected to outside walkways. A sense of having a “front” and a “back” has been avoided to enable access from all points in the surrounding area.
ⒸThe Sumida Hokusai Museum | Photos Owashi Yosuke
The structure of the building has been sealed in consideration of the storage and exhibit of the ukiyo-e, but it is possible to see inside the museum from the slits outside to provide the local people with a sense of being close to the Sumida Hokusai Museum. It is also possible to enjoy the scenes of the park and surrounding area from inside the museum, as well as enjoying panoramic views of the distinctive features of Sumida City from the top floor, such as the Tokyo Sky Tree. The slits also form a diverse range of spaces within the museum. While the various floor areas of a certain floor are formed into independent rooms, the floor areas on another floor are combined to form a single room.
The outside walls of the structure are made from aluminum panels that have a slightly mirrored surface. This means the outer walls will gently reflect scenes of the downtown area and allow the building to blend into the general panorama of the surrounding town. Also, the gentle fluctuations in the floor area gently modify the reflected scenes to provide a different outer appearance depending on the angle from which it is viewed.
ⒸThe Sumida Hokusai Museum | Photos Owashi Yosuke
Open:Tuesday – Sunday
9:30-17:30
（Last admission 17:00）
Colsed:Mondays
(The following day if it is a national holiday)
New Year holidays: December 29 – January 1
Address: 2-7-2 Kamezawa, Sumida-ku,Tokyo,130-0014
Tel: 03-6658-8936
Official website: https://hokusai-museum.jp/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/THE.SUMIDA.HOKUSAI.MUSEUM/
