Hokusai: Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji from the Iuchi Collection.

National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo｜March 28 – June 14, 2026

Katsushika Hokusai, "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji: Under the Great Wave off Kanagawa," c. 1830–33 (Tenpo 1–4), large horizontal nishiki-e print, National Museum of Western Art (on loan from the Iuchi Collection)

When an image becomes myth, how do we begin to see it anew?

In spring 2026, the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo will present Hokusai: Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji from the Iuchi Collection, the first full public exhibition of 46 original prints from Katsushika Hokusai’s iconic landscape series, along with two rare variant impressions: the elusive indigo-toned “Blue Fuji” and an exceptionally well-preserved version of The Great Wave off Kanagawa.

More than a historical retrospective, this exhibition explores the visual volatility of repetition. It is not just the subject—Mount Fuji—but the differences between impressions that matter: color, paper, pressure, age. In doing so, the show raises critical questions about perception, reproduction, and the cultural migration of images across centuries and continents.

Hokusai’s legacy in the West is well-known. His compositions famously influenced Monet, Degas, and Van Gogh. But here, within the walls of Japan’s foremost Western art museum, we are asked to reconsider Hokusai not as a peripheral inspiration but as a central figure in global visual consciousness.

Exhibited concurrently with M.K. Čiurlionis: Cosmic Cartography—featuring the Lithuanian symbolist’s metaphysical visions—this exhibition creates a resonant dialogue between two artists who used landscape not as background, but as metaphor for the inner world.

 Up Left: Hokusai Katsushika, "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji: White Rain Under the Mountains," c. 1830–33 (Tenpo 1–4), large horizontal nishiki-e print, National Museum of Western Art (on loan from the Iuchi Collection)

Up Right: Katsushika Hokusai, "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji: The Five Hundred Temples," c. 1830–33 (Tenpo 1–4), large horizontal nishiki-e print, National Museum of Western Art (on loan from the Iuchi Collection)

Down Left: Katsushika Hokusai, "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, Tokaido Hodogaya," c. 1830–33 (Tenpo 1–4), large horizontal nishiki-e print, National Museum of Western Art (on loan from the Iuchi Collection)

Down RIght: Katsushika Hokusai, "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji: Clear Skies and Fine Winds," c. 1830–33 (Tenpo 1–4), large horizontal nishiki-e print, National Museum of Western Art (on loan from the Iuchi Collection)

Exhibition Information

Title: Hokusai: Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji from the Iuchi Collection

Venue: National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo (Special Exhibition Gallery B3F)

Dates: March 28 (Sat) – June 14 (Sun), 2026

Organizers: National Museum of Western Art, The Yomiuri Shimbun

Cooperation: Foundation for the Advancement of Western Art

Curator: Kazutaka Higuchi (Jumonji Gakuen Women’s University / NMWA Guest Researcher)

Website: https://www.nmwa.go.jp

Concurrent Exhibition: M.K. Čiurlionis: Cosmic Cartography