I gave this 3 stars as the building is beautiful and the staff friendly. However, nearly all the prints were reproductions. I wouldn’t make a special trip to come to this museum. If you like the artist and want to see original works, go to the Tokyo National museum. They have dozens of real ones on display, a lot of other things, and the ticket price is cheaper.

The permanent exhibition with replicas is rather small but still worthwhile. There are a lot of interactive displays which were quite fun. I liked the studio reconstructed after descriptions from one of Hokusai's student. The small museum shop has some excellent stuff.

Love woodblock prints and glad we got to see this museum. It is a bit out of the way but worth it. There was a special exhibit on the smiles in Hokusai’s works which was interesting. The main exhibit does not have the really famous works but there is interactive reproductions of those. It may not have the famous prints but there are explanations of them which can help you understand his work more

Totally 5 stars. Architecturally arresting from the arrival, this quiet and thoughtful, reasonably small museum packs a punch. Over 3 floors, we were fortunate to see a special exhibit honouring the samurai. Beautifully curated with lots of excellent background information, the permanent exhibit had wonderful interactive elements and stages of artistic creation beautifully demonstrated and explained.. Just fascinating. Enough interest for the youngest (we saw 5 years olds interacting with the tech, as I was, it was that good), to the oldest. A must see. An enjoyable few hours. I will be returning.

Small, but nevertheless one of the best museums I've ever been to. Please ignore the reviews that the museum is full of "photocopies" and that the person went to see The Great Wave and it wasn't there. Hokusai was a commercial artist, an illustrator, an educator, a chronicler of life in Edo and especially in Sumida. The Great Wave was a PRINT. It was meant to be a reproduction. There is no single Great Wave, there is just an original print run of like 1,000 copies. This people would have known if they educated themselves before rolling up. This museum is about Hokusai's personal journey from apprentice to master artist, about his artistic engagement with the floating world and the theater and the neighborhood in which he lived. It is about his artistic evolution and how he transformed his technique over time, and the intersection of this with the history of the late-Edo period. It is about Japan's engagement with the west and not only Hokusai's embrace of Western techniques but also his subsequent contribution to the transformation of Western illustration. Its about the role he played in teaching people around the world how to draw (perhaps one of the most interesting parts of the museum). To successfully appreciate this museum, you have to come prepared to spend time and to read, listen and learn. If you come ready to do this, you will leave so very enriched. If you are just coming to eyeball a "famous painting," this "famous painting" does not exist, so its probably best you just stay home and order The Great Wave on Amazon. If you love art, however, this is the museum for you.