“New! Ukiyo-e Exhibition” at the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art in March 2027; More Than 120 Late Edo and Meiji Prints by Kuniyoshi, Yoshitoshi and Others, Plus Immersive Displays

The Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art (Chuo-ku, Kobe) will hold the special exhibition “New! Ukiyo-e Exhibition: Genius Artists of the Late Edo and Meiji Periods” from Saturday, March 20 to Sunday, May 23, 2027. It presents more than 120 ukiyo-e prints from the transition from the Edo to the Meiji period, combined with digital presentations such as immersive displays. Through works by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Tsukioka Yoshitoshi and others, it traces the role ukiyo-e played from the end of the Edo period into the Meiji era. A touring exhibition that follows a showing at the Museum of Art, Ehime, in summer 2026, it is organized by the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art and The Yomiuri Shimbun.

Railways, civil war and earthquakes: what late Edo and Meiji ukiyo-e conveyed

According to the museum, about 150 years ago, as the era shifted from Edo to Meiji, ukiyo-e artists took as their subjects the social changes brought by Westernization and modernization, such as railways and industrialization. Incorporating Western modes of expression, they created new forms of their own.

The exhibition’s official website explains that the artists depicted Westernizing streetscapes, the opening of railways, customs, civil war, earthquakes and other events. While warrior prints, actor prints and landscape prints of famous places were transformed, new genres such as kaika-e (prints of “civilization and enlightenment”) and nishiki-e newspapers also emerged. The information for the earlier Ehime venue positioned ukiyo-e of this period as taking on a stronger character as mass media that quickly conveyed social change.

What can be seen? Kuniyoshi, Yoshitoshi, Kyosai, Chikanobu and others

The artists listed on the official website include Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797–1861), Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839–1892), Utagawa Hiroshige III, Kawanabe Kyosai, Ochiai Yoshiiku and Yoshu Chikanobu. More than 120 ukiyo-e prints, including large-format triptychs, are on display. The main works shown on the official website are as follows.

• Utagawa Kuniyoshi, “The Three Heavenly Kings of Minamoto no Raiko Playing Go” (1861)

• Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, “Raiko’s Four Heavenly Kings Subduing the Demon of Mt. Oe” (1864)

• Kawanabe Kyosai, “A Famous Mirror of the Japanese Spirit, New Edition” (1874)

• Yoshu Chikanobu, “Cherry Blossoms in Bloom at Ueno Park” (c. 1887)

• Toyohara Chikaharu, “Famous Places of Tokyo: True View of the Great Fireworks at Ryogoku Bridge” (1887)

• Toyohara Kunichika, “Kyoganoko Musume Dojoji: The Hat Dance Scene” (1896)

At the Ehime venue, an immersive prologue was followed by four chapters: “Artists Who Captured the ‘New’ Era,” “Artists Who Depicted the Four Seasons,” “Artists Who Depicted Stars” and “Artists of Fantasy Who Created Entertainment” (according to the Museum of Art, Ehime).

The Asai Collection of about 30,000 prints and a “hybrid” exhibition

The works are provided with the full cooperation of the Asai Collection, a private collection begun around 1897 by Yusuke Asai, who ran a bookstore in Osaka. It holds about 30,000 ukiyo-e prints from the late Edo and Meiji periods, many of them first editions. According to the official website, an exhibition that toured three cities in China in 2021 drew about 320,000 visitors.

The official website describes this as a “hybrid” exhibition combining ukiyo-e prints with digital displays. In addition to an “immersive display” that draws visitors into the worlds of the works, it offers “OMIOKURI Ukiyo-e,” in which characters from ukiyo-e see visitors off, and interactive digital content that lets visitors zoom in on details of the works. Planning cooperation is provided by TOPPAN, and there is also an audio guide narrated by actor Yudai Chiba.

Opening hours, prices and closing days

Opening hours are 10:00 to 18:00 (last entry 30 minutes before closing). The museum is closed on Mondays, but open on Monday, March 22 (substitute holiday) and Monday, May 3 (national holiday), and closed instead on Tuesday, March 23 and Thursday, May 6. Same-day admission for adults is 1,800 yen; other categories and advance tickets had not been posted on the official website as of October 19.

The museum is currently holding “Matsukata Kojiro × Tokutaro Yamamura, A Passion for Collecting” until Sunday, December 27. The basics of ukiyo-e are introduced in our introduction to enjoying ukiyo-e.

Editor’s perspective

Ukiyo-e of about 150 years ago depicted events such as the opening of railways, civil war and earthquakes, strengthening their role as media that conveyed social change. The exhibition shows these prints together with immersive video spaces. It is structured so that visitors can compare, in the same venue, prints from an era when pictures conveyed events and today’s video technology. Other exhibitions in the Kansai region are compiled in our guide to exhibitions in the Kansai region.

Overview

Name: New! Ukiyo-e Exhibition: Genius Artists of the Late Edo and Meiji Periods
Dates: Saturday, March 20 – Sunday, May 23, 2027
Hours: 10:00–18:00 (last entry 30 minutes before closing)
Closed: Mondays (open on March 22 and May 3), Tuesday, March 23, Thursday, May 6
Venue: Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art
Address: 1-1-1 Wakinohama Kaigan-dori, Chuo-ku, Kobe
Admission: Same-day adult ticket 1,800 yen (other categories not posted as of October 19)
Organizers: Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, The Yomiuri Shimbun
Sponsor: Ito Cultural Foundation
Special cooperation: Japan Educational Public Servants Mutual Aid Association, Hyogo Branch
Planning cooperation: TOPPAN
Cooperation: Asai Collection
Official website: https://www.toppan-vr.jp/shin-ukiyo-e/
*Information as of October 19, 2026. Please check the official website for the latest information.

For Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s life, major works and where to see them, see Who Was Utagawa Kuniyoshi?

*Top image: from a press release by Kyuryudo Art Publishing Co., Ltd.

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on official information from the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, the exhibition’s official website and the Museum of Art, Ehime.

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team