3 impressions go on view this month in Japan (Kawasaki, Okayama, Tokyo)
This coincides with its inclusion on the new ¥1000 bank note from July 2024.
And impressions are still on view in UK, Italy, and USA: https://greatwavetoday.com
The prints can't be on display permanently as they fade under light, so they only on view for a few months and then are generally rested for about 4 years.
Last year Matsumoto loaned their impression to Nagano, so it'll be a while until it's on view again.
With music and art in particular, you're not limited to low fidelity reproductions when you witness the real thing. It must be a fairly common desire given that concert halls, museums, and art galleries exist.
In this particular instance, each impression of The Great Wave is different—actually unique—because of the way they were mass produced. So you might want to see a different one, or maybe try to see as many as you can to compare them. Also, in person you might be surprised by its size.
You've seen The Great Wave, the Mona Lisa, etc. but have you seen it?
Sure, ideally I'd go for all the real stuff, but traveling to faraway places for that requires lots of planning, vacation time, money, and putting up with discomfort along the way. Some of the museum-visiting and sightseeing can probably be replaced by something like a Vision Pro without much loss in the quality of the experiences, with some upsides in the factors I just mentioned.
Whenever I'm on a trip and visit an art or history museum I feel like I'd be able to better enjoy and appreciate the stuff if I weren't so tired from the walking/standing/travel and didn't have to go through the entire collection within the time constraints, and maybe a high-end VR headset at home can offer a higher quality experience. I still haven't paid for a Vision Pro though.
Right now I do try to experience a lot of the aforementioned things (live music etc.) in person, but to be honest I'm not 100% sold on their appeal given the more affordable/convenient/comfortable substitutes we have in the modern world. So far the value for me has been more about the memories I'm making with others than the actual content of the experiences themselves.
I don't think for a woodprint you'll get this, but for a lot of paintings the scale itself can be impressive. There are multi-meter high paintings out there that can be very mesmerizing.
But it's also just kinda neat!
Seeing an original work by an artist always makes more of an impression on me than just seeing a representation of it.
Being in the presence of something of significance weaves it into your personal history. Does it make you part of a grander narrative somehow? I have felt a kind of awe to witness something that is great in person. But I don't really know why it has the value it does.
There were also original drawings, and examples of Hokusai's original "manga" (Hokusai invented the word).