This spring, Shinjuku Kabukicho plays host to a provocative encounter between two masters of ukiyo-e: Katsushika Hokusai and Keisai Eisen. This is the third installment of the “Shinjuku Kabukicho Shunga Exhibition WA,” organized by Smappa!Group.
This exhibition brings the two artists’ works into dialogue, exploring how each artist approached desire, sensuality and the human form. Hokusai’s shunga is bold and unrestrained, rendered with a sense of curiosity and play. Eisen, who studied earlier traditions before drawing direct inspiration from Hokusai, developed a more decadent, atmospheric style — lingering on mood, intimacy and allure. Though connected, their visions of eroticism diverge in striking ways.
Featuring around 100 works from the collection of Mitsuru Uragami, the director of Uragami Sokyudo, the exhibition centers on shunga by both artists, alongside pieces by those who followed in Hokusai’s lineage. A highlight is the limited-time display of Hokusai’s famed octopus and ama diver scene, known in English as The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife.
Held at the Shinjuku Kabukicho Noh Stage and BOND (a former host club where the official gift shop Kabukicho Information Center is located), the exhibition situates Edo-period erotic art within the charged atmosphere of modern-day Kabukicho. Across centuries, the setting underscores a constant: the enduring fascination with human desire in all its complexity.
