Japanese Art at Home: Hokusai, Ukiyo-e and the Japandi Look

Few images are as instantly recognisable as a cresting wave with Mount Fuji small in the distance. Katsushika Hokusai printed it almost two hundred years ago, and it still looks modern: flat colour, bold outline, empty space used with confidence. That same restraint is why Japanese woodblock prints, known as ukiyo-e, sit so comfortably in today's homes, and why they have become the natural artwork for the Japandi style that blends Japanese and Scandinavian ideas.

This guide covers who the key artists were, why their work is free to reproduce, how to style it in a modern room, and which sizes and frames bring out the best in it.

Hokusai and Hiroshige: the two names to know

Katsushika Hokusai (1760 to 1849) is best known for the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, which includes The Great Wave off Kanagawa and Fine Wind, Clear Morning, the red Fuji. His compositions are dramatic and graphic, with strong diagonals and a famous deep blue, Prussian blue, that had only just arrived in Japan when he started using it. Hokusai works are the bold choice: one large piece can carry a whole wall.

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 to 1858) is the quieter poet of the pair. His series The Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido and One Hundred Famous Views of Edo show travellers in rain and snow, bridges at dusk, plum blossoms against a red sky. Where Hokusai is energy, Hiroshige is atmosphere. His vertical prints in particular suit narrow walls and bedrooms. Vincent van Gogh copied two of them in oil, which tells you how much European painters admired this work.

Both artists are long out of copyright. Their prints are public domain, which means they can be reproduced faithfully and legally, and it is why you will find them in our Hokusai collection alongside other masters in our Japanese wall art range. A good reproduction starts from a high-resolution scan of an original impression, with the paper tone and the slight irregularities of the woodblock left intact rather than digitally cleaned away.

Why ukiyo-e works in a modern home

Ukiyo-e was never meant to be precious. These were affordable prints sold to ordinary townspeople, pinned up and replaced, which gives them an unfussy, everyday quality that fits modern living rather than fighting it. A few specific reasons the style travels so well:

• Flat colour and clear outline. There is no illusionistic depth, so the prints read as graphic design as much as painting. They sit happily next to modern furniture.
• Negative space. Large areas of sky, water or plain paper give the eye room to rest, which is exactly what minimalist rooms ask for.
• A restrained palette. Indigo, ochre, soft green, grey, black and the warm cream of the paper. These are the same tones as linen, oak, clay and stone.
• Nature as subject. Waves, mountains, blossoms, birds, rain. The subjects are calm and universal.

Styling for Japandi

Japandi combines the Japanese appreciation for imperfection and simplicity with the Scandinavian love of light, pale wood and comfort. Japanese prints are the obvious art for it, but a few choices make the difference between a room that feels curated and one that feels themed.

• One piece, or a disciplined pair. Japandi rooms are edited. A single large Hokusai above a low sofa, or two Hiroshige verticals side by side with a 6 cm gap, is enough. Resist the gallery wall here.
• Low and horizontal. Japandi furniture is low to the ground, so hang art a touch lower than usual, with the centre around 140 cm, and favour landscape or square formats that echo the horizontal lines of the room.
• Match the woods. Pale oak frames with pale oak furniture; black frames with black-stained or charred wood details. Avoid walnut and gold, which pull the room toward a heavier, more Western look.
• Let texture do the work. Linen cushions, a wool rug, a ceramic vase with a single branch. The print should be the only pattern in the room.
• Keep the palette tight. Pick a print whose colours already exist in the room. A blue wave in a room of oatmeal and oak needs one other blue, a cushion or a bowl, to feel connected.

Choosing a size

Woodblock prints were originally small, around 25×37 cm for the standard oban format, so there is a case for keeping them modest. But scanned at high resolution and printed on canvas, they also enlarge beautifully; the flat colour fields have no fine detail to break down.

• Above a sofa or low console: 70×100 cm (28"×40") or 80×110 cm (32"×43") landscape. The Great Wave at this size is a genuine focal point.
• Above a bed: 60×90 cm (24"×36") landscape, or a pair of 40×60 cm (16"×24") portraits for Hiroshige scenes.
• Hallway or narrow wall: a single 50×75 cm (20"×30") portrait. Hiroshige's vertical compositions were designed for exactly this proportion.
• Desk, shelf or small bathroom: 30×45 cm (12"×18"), close to the original print size and intimate.

Square crops work well for details: a single blossom branch or a section of wave can be cropped square and still read as complete.

Frames: oak or black, and why

For Japanese prints we recommend two frame options and one unframed one.

Oak floating frame. The slim profile and the shadow gap between frame and canvas echo the way prints were traditionally mounted on scrolls with a narrow border. Oak picks up the cream of the paper and the pale woods of a Japandi room. This is our default recommendation.

Black floating frame. Black deepens the indigo and makes the composition more graphic. It suits rooms with black window frames, dark joinery or a more urban, modern feel. On a white wall a black-framed Hokusai looks crisp and intentional.

Hanging canvas. Our hanging canvas style, with wooden rails top and bottom, is the closest modern equivalent to a kakemono scroll. It is light, informal and particularly good for vertical Hiroshige prints in a bedroom or entrance.

The classic wooden frame in white can also work in very light rooms, but we would avoid walnut and gold here for the reasons above.

Bringing it home

Start with one piece you keep coming back to, choose the size by the wall rather than the sofa, and frame it in oak unless the room tells you black. Then stop. The restraint is the point. Browse our Japanese wall art collection to see Hokusai, Hiroshige and their contemporaries on canvas, each one printed and stretched to order in our workshop with free tracked shipping worldwide.