Ukiyo-e is one of Japan's greatest art forms, and there was a large exhibition in Osaka, so I went out to see it with a friend of mine. I believe ”The Grate Wave off Kanagawa" created by Hokusai is the most famous worldwide, but both Hiroshige and Hokusai are the two greatest artists.

The art show focused on Hiroshige, who gave influence to some of impressionist artists like Van Gogh and Claude Monet . I was excited because it was my first time to see ukiyo-e in person, and some of the prints on display were originaly first editions.

The exhibition was very crowed as we expected, and we had to wait in a long line to get close to see. Even so, it was worth to wait because looking at tiny details was fascinating. We often think ukiyo-e art is created by only ukiyo-e designers like Hiroshige and Hokusai , but it's actually collaborated by woodcarvers, printers, designers and more. Of course, the designs themselves were superb, but I was particularly amazed by woodcarving skills. When I saw rain described by sharp, long thin lines, I wondered how the woodcarvers could manage such preciseness. I was also interested in the composition of ukiyo-e. Although they appear 2D, they clearly have foreground, middle-ground and background.

Before the pandemic, most Japanese art museums hadn't allowed visitors to take exhibition pieces' photos, but now we can take some pictures of pieces as long as we don't use flash.

The photo above is one I took of one of the pieces from the exhibition.

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