Detail from “Negai no itoguchi: Prelude to Desire” by Kitagawa Utamaro / Kansei 11 (1799) / Collection of Uragami Sokyu-do

Smappa!Group is proud to present the Shunga Exhibition in Shinjuku Kabukicho – A Moment Interwoven with Culture and “Wa,” running for approximately two months from Saturday, July 26 to Tuesday, September 30, 2025. This exhibition will feature around 100 shunga (sensual ukiyo-e) prints from the collection of Mr. Mitsuru Uragami, owner of Uragami Sokyudo. The selection includes works by renowned Edo-period artists such as Hishikawa Moronobu, Kitagawa Utamaro, Katsushika Hokusai, and Utagawa Kuniyoshi.

Mr. Uragami is the world’s foremost collector of Hokusai Manga and a leading figure in the global appreciation of shunga. In 2013, he contributed to the landmark exhibition “Shunga: Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art” at the British Museum in London. Additionally, in 2015, he played a pivotal role in organizing Japan’s first-ever public shunga exhibition at the Eisei Bunko Museum in Tokyo, which attracted over 210,000 visitors in just three months, becoming a widely discussed cultural event.



The exhibition will take place at the Shinjuku Kabukicho Noh Theater, a traditional Noh stage operated by Smappa!Group. Art direction will be led by Yasutaka Hayashi (Chim↑Pom from Smappa!Group), transforming the entire venue. Every corner, including the main stage, hashigakari bridgeway, dressing rooms, and audience seating, will be reimagined into a dynamic and immersive exhibition space.

Shunga: Playful, Alluring, and Timeless Art that Fascinated the Edo People

Sensual yet humorous, beautiful yet engaging—shunga is art that continues to captivate viewers today. During the Edo period, it enthralled everyone—men and women, commoners and aristocrats alike—transcending gender and class. Often called warai-e (laughing pictures) or marked with the playful symbol “わ” (wa), shunga was enjoyed both privately and socially, shared in groups for laughter and layered interpretation.

Shunga offered titillation and a playground for imagination, woven into the rhythms of daily life.

At the Core of Ukiyo-e Expression

For ukiyo-e artists of the time, shunga was an essential means of creative expression. It’s often said that “no ukiyo-e artist ever avoided shunga.” From Utamaro to Hokusai and Kuniyoshi, nearly all major figures contributed to the genre, which represents a significant dimension of ukiyo-e. Amid the refined yet risqué spirit of Edo culture, artists used the Tokugawa shogunate's ban on shunga to their advantage, infusing their prints with mastery, wit, and defiance. Shunga thrived at the intersection of refinement and vulgarity in Edo culture.

Echoes and Layers of Classical References

Many shunga prints are inspired by and reference classical Chinese poetry, waka, and traditional literature. Beyond their visual appeal, viewers are drawn to decode layered allusions and disguised references—yatsushi (disguise) and mitate (parody)—stimulating intellectual curiosity and offering multiple meanings. Far from being merely provocative sensual art, shunga embodies the overlapping spheres of Japanese tradition, storytelling, and artistic play—a true representation of wa.

Shunga at a New World of “Wa” in the Heart of Kabukicho

Now, this rich tradition comes alive in one of the world’s most vibrant entertainment districts: Shinjuku Kabukicho. Amid neon lights, crowds, izakaya, nightclubs, host clubs, and love hotels, this district reflects the same cocktail of desire, illusion, and human drama found in Edo-era shunga. The Shinjuku Kabukicho Noh Theater emerges as a modern-day playground, deeply connected to the world of shunga.

The entrance to the Noh theater—bathed in contemporary fantasy—becomes a modern-day sandō, a spiritual path back to the Edo period. Stepping inside, visitors will encounter a space where Edo-period art meets the energy of contemporary urban life.

We invite all guests—regardless of gender, nationality, profession, or faith—to relax their differences and explore the joyful, humorous, and sensual wit of Edo-era shunga through the eyes of its great masters: Hishikawa Moronobu, Kitagawa Utamaro, Katsushika Hokusai, and Utagawa Kuniyoshi.

Welcome to a new world of “Wa” that begins here.


*Further details will be shared at a later date.
We kindly ask for your patience, and we hope you look forward to the announcement.

Exhibition Overview

Dates

July 26 (Sat) – September 30 (Tue), 2025

Venue

Shinjuku Kabukicho Noh Theater, 2F Lions Plaza Shinjuku, 2-9-18 Kabukicho, Shinjuku, Tokyo

Works on Display

Approximately 100 shunga prints from the Uragami Sokyudo collection

Note

Admission is restricted to guests aged 18 and over

Organized by

Smappa!Group

Special Cooperation

Uragami Sokyudo

Curator

Mitsuru Uragami (Representative, Uragami Sokyudo; Executive Board Member, International Ukiyo-e Society)

Project Director

Maki Tezuka (CEO, Smappa!Group)

Art Direction / Exhibition Design

Yasutaka Hayashi
(Chim↑Pom from Smappa!Group)

Spatial Design

Takaaki Mitsui

Planning Support

Yuko Yamamoto (ANOMALY)
Koichi Morota (Morota Office)

Collaborators

Nihon Bunka Radio
Sebastian Takagi

Media Partner

Time Out Tokyo
FLIP Japan

Project Managers

Honya-shan
Kaede Ebina
Rena Ashibe

PR & Visual Design

Smappa!Group

CONTACT

About the Curator:Mitsuru Uragami

Mitsuru Uragami grew up surrounded by antiques and was influenced by his father, Toshiro Uragami, a renowned collector and honorary director of the Hagi Uragami Museum. After training at Mayuyama Ryusendo, he established Uragami Sokyudo in 1979. He has organized numerous exhibitions and was the first Japanese art dealer to participate in the International Asia Art Fair in New York (1997–2008), where he also served on the vetting committee. In 2013, he co-founded Shunga in Japan LLP to support the British Museum’s shunga exhibition, and in 2015, he played a key role in realizing Japan’s first shunga exhibition at Eisei Bunko. Today, he is recognized as the world's leading collector of Hokusai Manga, both in terms of quality and volume.

http://www.uragami.co.jp/

About the Venue: Shinjuku Kabukicho Noh Theater

Originally built in 1941 as the "Nakajima Shinjuku Noh Stage," the theater was acquired by Smappa!Group in 2022 and renamed it the "Shinjuku Kabukicho Noh Theater." It now serves as a cultural hub for performances and workshops in Noh, Nihon Buyo, rakugo, and traditional arts. Under the guidance of Shizuo Nakajima, a certified preserver of Important Intangible Cultural Property, the theater continues to promote Japanese cultural content to both domestic and international audiences, bridging Japan’s classical arts with contemporary tourism and cultural engagement.

https://nohstage.com/

Official Media Partners