Japan, in a word

神奈川沖浪裏 Kanagawa oki nami ura

The actual title of "The Great Wave", meaning "Under the Wave off Kanagawa". It is printed in the cartouche at the upper left of the print. Hokusai's Great Wave explained: the real title of Kanagawa oki nami ura, its two blues and how many prints survive

富嶽三十六景 Fugaku sanjūrokkei

"Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji": the series of woodblock prints of Mount Fuji that Katsushika Hokusai began in 1830, aged 70. Ten more designs were later added to the 36 of the title. Hokusai's Great Wave explained: the real title of Kanagawa oki nami ura, its two blues and how many prints survive

公募展 Kōboten

An open-entry exhibition, for which works are gathered through an open call. The Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum hosted ten in its first year, 1926, and today is the venue for more than 250 exhibitions by art groups and schools each year. Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum turns 100: a free exhibition in Ueno traces the story of Japan's first public art museum from 19 November

正倉院 Shōsōin

A treasure house at Tōdai-ji temple in Nara. It preserves objects connected to the 8th-century Emperor Shōmu and Empress Kōmyō. The collection is closed to the public, with a selection shown in Nara each autumn. Museum of the Imperial Collections opens in full, showing Shōsōin treasures inside the Imperial Palace for the first time

動植綵絵 Dōshoku sai-e

"Colorful Realm of Living Beings": a set of 30 hanging scrolls of birds, fish and flowers that Itō Jakuchū painted between about 1757 and 1765. It is a National Treasure. Museum of the Imperial Collections opens in full, showing Shōsōin treasures inside the Imperial Palace for the first time