TITLE： “HATAKEYAMA SHIGETADA”
ARTIST： KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI
FABRIC： RAYON FUJIETTE
PRINTING METHOD： OVER PRINTING
BUTTON： BAMBOO BUTTON
 
DETAIL OF ALOHA SHIRT
 
National Treasure of Japan

In the Edo period when the nation became peaceful and tranquil after the war-torn era ended, people began to seek spiritual well-being through art and literature. Under such circumstances, paintings and woodblock prints by professional painters caught the hearts of people in Edo and became extremely popular as an entertainment. Since “Ukiyo-E” could be mass-produced, they were sold not only to people of higher rank but also to ordinary people at affordable prices. In this way, Ukiyo-E became a part of everyday life as a pleasure.

We focused on the painters of this period when Japanese arts and culture spread further, and printed the works of these masters on the canvas called aloha shirts. The collection named "National Treasure of Japan" includes the passions of the great arts which Japan is proud of to the world. It has started as a collaboration with the arts of Hokusai in 2017, and now takes a new turn with participation of the n ew artists.
© Tokyo National Museum