Katsushika Ōi "Night Scene in the Yoshiwara" — The Lineage of Nightscapes

Now showing6 October 2026 – 6 December 2026Ticketed, see website

Two-term exhibition tracing ukiyo-e depictions of nighttime scenes, centred on Katsushika Ōi's famous "Night Scene in the Yoshiwara."

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On now All of November 2026

Outside a Yoshiwara brothel it is so dark you'd need a lantern to see your feet, while behind the lattice the courtesans glow red, dressed in dazzling colours. One woman has come up to the bars to talk to someone outside, and the light turns her into a black silhouette with no readable face.

Ōi was Hokusai's daughter, and only about a dozen paintings by her hand are known. This one is out for the first time in three years and hangs for the whole run. You will be leaning in close: it is smaller than a sheet of A3. Around it are night prints from Harunobu to Hiroshige's Prussian-blue skies and Kiyochika's modernising Tokyo, and rarely shown night scenes made for export from the late Meiji period. Every other work changes on 7 November.

The museum says weekends, holidays and the final days get very busy, so come on a weekday, early in the run. There is no timed booking. Tickets are ¥1,200 at the door, cash only.

Look for

Three lanterns with Ōi's name on them
Look at the lanterns in the painting: they carry the characters 応, 為 and 栄, a hidden signature spelling her art name Ōi and her own name, Ei.
The lit display room against the black street
Look for the brothel's display room blazing red behind its lattice while the street outside is pitch dark, the light-and-shadow contrast the museum calls her defining invention.