Doraemon– Author –

Hokusai spent most of his life in the Sumida area of Edo. The river, its bridges, its festivals, and its floods appear throughout his work. A history of art's most storied waterway.

Kitagawa Utamaro was the greatest painter of bijin — beautiful women — in Japanese art history. His revolutionary close-up portraits transformed the genre and influenced Western art.

He appeared in 1794, produced 140 intensely psychological actor portraits in 10 months, and then completely disappeared. The greatest mystery in ukiyo-e history.

The detailed fabric patterns in ukiyo-e prints are some of the most technically sophisticated elements in the art form. They also document Edo fashion in extraordinary detail.

Bonsai is one of Japan's most distinctive art forms — a living sculpture developed over centuries. Its aesthetic principles connect directly to the same visual culture as ukiyo-e.

Hokusai was born, lived, and died in Edo. The city he knew was one of the world's largest — and its streets, bridges, rivers, and markets appear throughout his work.

Where to buy, what to look for, how to spot reproductions, and what prices to expect. A practical guide for first-time collectors of ukiyo-e.

Monet, Van Gogh, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec — all were transformed by Japanese woodblock prints. This is the story of how ukiyo-e sparked a revolution in Western art.

Hundreds of thousands of Edo citizens belonged to Fuji-ko pilgrimage societies. The religious journey shaped how Japan saw its sacred mountain — and how artists depicted it.

Ukiyo-e prints were made possible by washi — Japanese handmade paper with properties that no Western paper could match. The history of the material that carried all those masterworks.