Katsushika Oi’s “Night Scene in the Yoshiwara” on View for the First Time in Three Years: Tracing the Lineage of Night Scenes at the Ota Memorial Museum of Art Until December 6

At the Ota Memorial Museum of Art (Shibuya-ku, Tokyo), “Katsushika Oi’s ‘Night Scene in the Yoshiwara’ and the Lineage of Night Scenes” is on until Sunday, December 6. The exhibition shows “Night Scene in the Yoshiwara,” the masterpiece of Oi, Hokusai’s daughter and an active painter in her own right, for the first time in three years, and traces the lineage of night-scene expression in ukiyo-e. It opened on Tuesday, October 6; the first period runs until Tuesday, November 3 (national holiday) and the second period from Saturday, November 7. All works other than “Night Scene in the Yoshiwara” are changed between the two periods, and the list of works includes 127 items.

Highlights of the night scenes exhibition

The museum introduces “Night Scene in the Yoshiwara” as Oi’s masterpiece, emphasizing contrasts of light and shadow, brightness and darkness. According to the list of works, it dates from around 1818–1860, and it is shown throughout the exhibition.

According to the museum, only a dozen or so paintings attributed to Oi have been confirmed worldwide. In recent years, attention to Oi has grown through dramas, films and anime, and the exhibition offers a fresh opportunity to see her masterpiece.

Structure of the exhibition and main works

The exhibition has three chapters. The first, “Not to Be Missed: Oi’s Works, Rare Even Worldwide,” introduces Oi’s works. The second, “Savoring Masterpieces of Beautiful Night Scenes,” presents masterpieces depicting nights with shining stars and moon, summer nights colored by fireworks, rainy nights and more. In this chapter, the museum says that night scenes woven from light and darkness were an enchanting subject for painters.

The third, “Little-Known Night-Scene Prints Loved Across the Sea,” takes up night-scene prints made for overseas markets in the late Meiji era. The main works listed on the museum’s page are as follows (all in the collection of the Ota Memorial Museum of Art unless otherwise noted).

• Throughout: Katsushika Oi, “Night Scene in the Yoshiwara”

• First period (October 6 – November 3): Utagawa Hiroshige, “Night View of Saruwaka-machi” from “One Hundred Famous Views of Edo” and “Wild Geese Across the Moon”; Kitao Masayoshi, “Perspective Picture of the Evening Cool at Nakazu in the Eastern Capital”; Ogura Ryuson, “View of Yushima”

• Second period (November 7 – December 6): Utagawa Hiroshige, “Evening Moon at Ryogoku” from “Famous Places in the Eastern Capital”; Kobayashi Kiyochika, “Ryogoku Bridge in Enlightened Tokyo”; Torii Kiyonaga, “Moon Viewing from an Upper Story by the Okawa River”; Utagawa Kunisada, “Beauty Viewing the Moon” from “Nights of Secret Trysts in the Moon’s Shadow”; attributed to Kobayashi Eijiro, “A High Bridge by Night” (collection of curve-arts)

Night scenes by Suzuki Harunobu, Keisai Eisen, Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, Inoue Yasuji and others are also on display.

Painters who depicted light and darkness

Among the painters of night scenes, the museum highlights Utagawa Hiroshige and Kobayashi Kiyochika. Hiroshige painted deep navy night skies with bero-ai (Prussian blue). Kiyochika depicted the nights of cities in the period of “civilization and enlightenment” through his use of shading.

The third chapter deals with night-scene prints made for export in the late Meiji era. While ukiyo-e prints were heading into decline in Japan, many prints were produced for overseas markets. Among them are many reproductions based on works by Hiroshige and Kiyochika, as well as night-scene prints that read like homages to them. According to the museum, such prints have rarely been taken up in research or exhibitions, and the exhibition also focuses on the publishers Hasegawa Takejiro and Watanabe Shozaburo.

Tickets, and how to avoid crowds

Admission is 1,200 yen for adults and 800 yen for university and high school students, and junior high school students (aged 15) and younger are free. Students of junior high school age and above must show a student ID. Payment is cash only; credit cards and QR code payments cannot be used. There are no timed reservations, and group reservations are suspended during the exhibition.

From the second visit during the exhibition, showing your ticket stub gives 200 yen off, which can be used to see both the first and second periods. Showing a disability certificate gives 100 yen off for the holder and one companion. There are also reciprocal discounts with the Yamatane Museum of Art, the Toguri Museum of Art, the Suntory Museum of Art and the Chiba City Museum of Art: showing a ticket stub or membership card from those museums gives 100 yen off. Discounts cannot be combined.

Opening hours are 10:30 to 17:30 (last admission 17:00). Closing days are irregular; from October 19 onward, the museum is closed on October 19 and 26 and November 2, 4–6, 9, 16, 24 and 30. It is also closed between the last day of the first period, November 3, and the first day of the second period, November 7, so check the opening days before visiting.

Editor’s perspective

Using night scenes as a clue, the exhibition traces how ukiyo-e has expressed light in darkness. By including late Meiji prints made for export, it also turns attention to the routes by which images of night scenes crossed the sea.

For TOKYO ART SPHERE, which follows nighttime light staging, how painters depicted darkness also offers a point of comparison. Contemporary nighttime staging at cultural properties is covered in our feature on nighttime light staging that illuminates cultural properties. Hiroshige’s works can also be seen in “Utagawa Hiroshige: Edo’s Best Angles” at the Tokyo National Museum until December 20. How to look at ukiyo-e is introduced in our introduction to enjoying ukiyo-e.

Overview

Name: Katsushika Oi’s “Night Scene in the Yoshiwara” and the Lineage of Night Scenes
Dates: Tuesday, October 6 – Sunday, December 6, 2026 (first period: Tuesday, October 6 – Tuesday, November 3 (national holiday); second period: Saturday, November 7 – Sunday, December 6. “Night Scene in the Yoshiwara” is shown throughout, and all other works are changed between the periods)
Hours: 10:30–17:30 (last admission 17:00)
Closed: October 13, 19 and 26, November 2, 4–6, 9, 16, 24 and 30
Venue: Ota Memorial Museum of Art
Address: 1-10-10 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Access: 5-minute walk from the Omotesando Exit of Harajuku Station on the JR Yamanote Line; 3-minute walk from Exit 5 of Meiji-jingumae Station on the Tokyo Metro Chiyoda and Fukutoshin Lines
Admission: Adults 1,200 yen, university and high school students 800 yen, junior high school students (aged 15) and younger free. Cash only. No timed reservations
Inquiries: 050-5541-8600 (Hello Dial)
Official website: https://www.ukiyoe-ota-muse.jp/katsushikaoi2026/
*Information as of October 19, 2026. Please check the official website for the latest information.

For Katsushika Hokusai, see our guide to his life, major works and the museums where you can see them.

*Top image: Katsushika Oi, “Night Scene in the Yoshiwara,” collection of the Ota Memorial Museum of Art (public domain, from Wikimedia Commons)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on information on the official website of the Ota Memorial Museum of Art (as of October 19, 2026).

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team