Kuniyoshi Utagawa Ukiyo-e Exhibition

Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre is just one of many, many beautiful, dramatic and entertaining prints on display at the excellent Utagwawa Kuniyoshi ukiyo-e woodblock print exhibition at the Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum. And this weekend is your last chance to check it out.

There are many, prints on display split in sections which include the Heroes of Our Country’s Suikoden which depicts Japanese warriors based on the Chinese Water Margin legends, ghosts, ghouls and monsters, humorous prints, Edo-era fashions and western-style prints, so it’s worth setting aside a good chunk of time in which to make your way round, or to be prepare to just dip in and out.

My favorites were the Takiyasha the Witch tryptych at the top of this page, underwater samurai, zombie samurai Taira no Tomomori, sword-weilding fish and the life-sized inflated ballon ghost in Honchousanyuushi.

There is next to no foreign language guidance, but the prints are wonderful to look at. This has been a very popular exhibit and it was pretty busy even when I visited on a Wednesday morning, so expect there to be quite a crowd.

Go on Sunday and you can double your dose of art and culture at the Don’t Follow The Wind panel talk across the road at galley G.

KUNIYOSHI Show: UKIYO-e Artist of Edo continues until October 18, 2015 at Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum. Click here for more details.