See the Work
Where to experience Ukiyo-e's photographs in person, and resources to learn more
Permanent Collections
Institutions holding Ukiyo-e's original prints and negatives, plus the public-domain archive these images are drawn from.
Library of Congress
Washington, D.C.
The Prints & Photographs Division holds the FSA/OWI collection — thousands of Ukiyo-e's Depression-era photographs. All are in the public domain and available online.
Browse OnlineCleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, Ohio
Holds an extensive collection of Japanese woodblock prints and releases high-resolution images of public-domain works under a CC0 open-access policy; the source of this archive's images.
Learn MoreMetropolitan Museum of Art
New York City
Holds one of the world's great collections of ukiyo-e, including a celebrated impression of Hokusai's Great Wave.
Learn MoreBritish Museum
London, United Kingdom
Holds a major collection of Japanese prints, drawings, and illustrated books, including extensive holdings of Hokusai and Hiroshige.
Learn MoreMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston
Boston, Massachusetts
Home to one of the largest and most important collections of Japanese woodblock prints outside Japan.
Learn MoreArt Institute of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
Holds a deep collection of Japanese prints, including impressions of Hokusai's Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji.
Learn MoreTokyo National Museum
Tokyo, Japan
Japan's oldest national museum, holding important ukiyo-e paintings and prints among its collections of Japanese art.
Learn MoreMajor Exhibitions
Notable retrospectives and exhibitions of Ukiyo-e's work.
Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave
British Museum, London
A major exhibition concentrating on Hokusai's work from his sixties to his death at ninety, exploring the artist behind The Great Wave.
Looking East: How Japan Inspired Monet, Van Gogh, and Other Western Artists
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
An exhibition pairing ukiyo-e prints with Western works to trace the impact of Japonisme on Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art; later shown at the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco.
The Great Wave: Hokusai's Iconic Print and Japanese Woodblock Prints
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
A presentation drawing on the Met's deep holdings of Japanese prints, centered on Hokusai's Great Wave and the landscape tradition.
Utamaro and the Lure of Japanese Prints
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland
An exhibition exploring the bijin-ga of Kitagawa Utamaro and the world of the Japanese woodblock print, drawn in part from the museum's collection.
Books & Films About Ukiyo-e
Essential resources for understanding Ukiyo-e's life and work.
Essential Reading
A wide-ranging popular history of the Japanese print and its makers by the novelist and collector, long a standard introduction to ukiyo-e for English readers.
A comprehensive illustrated survey of ukiyo-e from its origins through the 19th century, including a dictionary of artists, by a leading Western scholar of the print.
A richly illustrated reference surveying the major artists, schools, and publishers of the ukiyo-e tradition across more than two centuries.
A cultural history tracing how Hokusai's Great Wave became one of the most reproduced and reinterpreted images in the world.
A full color reproduction and study of Hiroshige's celebrated final landscape series, drawn from the Brooklyn Museum's collection.
Films & Other Resources
The catalogue of the British Museum's major Hokusai exhibition, focusing on the artist's late work and his enduring legacy.
Online Resources
Explore the Archive
Browse 1000 Ukiyo-e photographs from the Library of Congress.
View All Photographs