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OBUSE |
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Some 20km northeast of Nagano, the small town of OBUSE has several
well-preserved Edo-era buildings, but its main attraction is the Hokusai-kan
(daily: April-Oct 9am-5pm; Jan-March, Nov & Dec 9.30am-4.30pm; ¥500), a
small museum displaying rare paintings and other works by the master of
ukiyo-e woodblock prints, Hokusai Katsushika . Pick up an English map of
the town at Nagano's tourist information centre before setting off, so
you can find your way straight from the station to the Hokusai-kan.
In 1842, the 83-year-old Hokusai was invited to live and work in Obuse
by Takai Kozan, the town's leading salt merchant and art lover. A
special studio was built for the artist, and it was here that he
completed four paintings for the ceilings of two large festival floats
and a phoenix mural for the Ganshoin. The beautiful floats, decorated
with dragons, seascapes and intricate carvings, are displayed in the
museum along with some forty other works, including painted scrolls,
delicate watercolours and woodblock prints. You can also watch a slide
show on Hokusai's life, with English subtitles. The quiet Ganshoin
temple (daily: April-Oct 9am-5pm; Jan-March, Nov & Dec 9.30am-4.30pm;
¥200), housing the phoenix mural, lies 1km east, towards the hills.
Opposite the Hokusai-kan is the Takai Kozan Memorial Hall (daily:
April-Oct 9am-5pm; Jan-March, Nov & Dec 9.30am-4.30pm; ¥200), the
atmospheric former home of Hokusai's patron, who was also an
accomplished artist and calligrapher. His drawings of ghosts and goblins
are meant to be ironic comments on the turbulent early Meiji-era years
and are quite intriguing, as is the giant mammoth sketch. In one of the
rooms you can see long banners inscribed with kanji characters as well
as the 2.5-metre-long brush used to paint them.
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