Ukiyo-e Ōta Memorial Art Museum

This cosy museum, which asks that you trade your shoes for a pair of slippers at the door, has an excellent collection of ukiyo-e (wood-block prints). The original collector, Ōta Seizo, former head of the Toho Life Insurance Company, began to buy ukiyo-e when he realised that many important examples of Japanese wood-block prints belonged to foreign museums, making it impossible for Japanese to view many of the genre’s masterworks. The museum usually displays no more than a few dozen works at a time from its collection of over 10,000 prints, including those by masters of the art such as Hokusai and Hiroshige. Note that the museum closes between the 27th and the end of each month. Downstairs from the museum is a branch of the shop Kamawanu, which specialises in beautifully printed tenugui (traditional towels).