A series of talks on Japanese cultural and social history in relation to the exhibition Beneath the Great Wave: Hokusai and Hiroshige.

Join us for our sixth talk in the series The Floating World: People and Landscapes in Edo entitled The wave, along the road, and Mount Fuji: mobility and power from Edo to Tokyo

This talk examines how movement shaped both the rise of Edo, one of the world’s largest early modern cities, and its transformation into modern Tokyo. It considers how the presence of the shoguns and the vibrant culture of the townspeople influenced everyday life and how, after the restoration of imperial rule in 1868, Japan embraced and integrated new technologies, styles, and fashions. Focusing on works by Hokusai, Hiroshige, and their successors, the lecture explores how artists depicted the transition from Edo to Tokyo and identifies the main features of this transformation. With Mount Fuji as a constant visual anchor, it traces how mobility operated both as an instrument of Tokugawa control and as a catalyst of change in Meiji Japan (1868-1912).

📅 Thursday 12 November 2026

⏰ 6:30pm - 8pm

📍the Whitworth

🎟️ Book your free tickets now

Monika Hinkel

Monika Hinkel is a specialist in Japanese art and a convenor and lecturer on the SOAS–Alphawood Asian Art Programme. She is an academic member of the Japan Research Centre at SOAS, an academic associate of the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures (SISJAC) and Editor-in-Chief of Andon, the journal of the Society for Japanese Art. From 1997 to 2000, she was Curator of Japanese Art at the Museum of East Asian Art in Cologne, and from 2001 to 2004, a guest researcher at Gakushūin University in Tokyo. She received her PhD from the University of Bonn in 2006. Her research focuses on Japanese woodblock prints, particularly of the late 19th and 20th centuries, with particular emphasis on nostalgia in print culture, the influence of Ukiyo-e on modern and contemporary art, and the history and development of mokuhanga. In 2024, she curated the special exhibition Yoshida – Three Generations of Japanese Printmaking at Dulwich Picture Gallery in London.

Erica Baffelli

Erica Baffelli is Professor of Japanese Studies at The University of Manchester (UK). She is interested in religion in contemporary Japan, with a focus on groups founded from the 1970s onwards. Her research projects and publication focus on religion in contemporary Japan; religion and media; new and minority religions; religion, gender and violence; and Buddhism and emotions. She currently PI on a Leverhulme Research Project on "Fear and Belonging in Minority Buddhist Communities" (2023-2027).

About the venue

The Whitworth is a venue with level access throughout, and facilities to support you during your visit. Alongside this our visitor team will be on hand to assist you in the gallery. Find out more about planning your visit (https://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/visit/planyourvisit/) to the Whitworth and accessibility information (https://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/visit/access/) for you.

If you’d like to speak to a team member about any access or additional needs, please get in touch with the gallery and we will be happy to assist you. Email whitworth@manchester.ac.uk (https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/professor-gary-younge-and-professor-sook-kyung-lee-in-conversation-tickets-901318476827?aff=oddtdtcreator) or telephone 0161 275 7450.

The Whitworth art gallery and gardens is driven by a mission to work with communities to use art for positive social change, and actively addresses what matters most in people’s lives. We are proudly part of The University of Manchester, operating as a convening space between the University and the people of the city.

(Image credit: Beneath the Great Wave_ Hokusai, Hiroshige, and ukiyo-e print, c.1830-32)

Description supplied by the event organiser.