North Building

Famous Restaurants in Edo: Japanese Ukiyo-e Prints from Mie Gallery

June 14, 2025 – September 27, 2025

Curated by Mie Gallery

In the bustling heart of 19th-century Edo (modern-day Tokyo), the restaurant was more than just a place to dine – it was a stage for fashion, fame and the theater of daily life. Many of the era’s most prominent woodblock print artists, including Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, Toyohara Kunichika, Utagawa Hiroshige and Utagawa Kuniyoshi, were commissioned to illustrate prints of the most popular establishments.

These prints served a dual purpose: as works of art and as sophisticated advertisements for a growing urban audience eager to see and be seen.

Restaurants recognized the marketing power of ukiyo-e* and often enlisted artists to elevate their image through scenes that captured the architecture and atmosphere and the vibrant personalities who frequented them. These compositions paired well-known kabuki actors, courtesans or entertainers with restaurant interiors and exteriors.

This exhibition, on loan from Mie Gallery, explores how woodblock prints immortalized top restaurants of this fascinating period in Edo. Consider how each print offers a window into the dining culture of a flourishing city—and into the vision of the artists who captured its most iconic scenes.

*Ukiyo-e, meaning “pictures of the floating world,” is a traditional Japanese art form that emerged during the Edo period (17th-19th centuries). It primarily refers to a genre of woodblock prints, paintings and illustrations that depicted scenes from everyday urban life, particularly in Edo (modern-day Tokyo).