Hokusai-kan (Hokusai Museum)

Set in the heart of Obuse, a small chestnut-growing town north-east of Nagano City, the Hokusai-kan is devoted to Katsushika Hokusai, the ukiyo-e master behind 'The Great Wave off Kanagawa.' Few visitors realise that Hokusai, already in his eighties and world-famous in Edo, made repeated journeys to this remote town at the invitation of his wealthy patron Takai Kozan. It was here, in his final years, that the tireless artist produced some of his most ambitious late work, and the museum opened in 1976 to keep that legacy in the place he chose as a second home.

The collection centres on Hokusai's brush paintings, sketches and printed works, but its showpieces are two magnificent festival floats. Their coffered ceilings carry dragon and phoenix panels painted by Hokusai himself in vivid mineral colours, still astonishingly bright, and they are displayed in a darkened hall so the pigments seem to glow. Rotating exhibitions draw on the museum's holdings to explore themes from his print series, his studies of waves and Mount Fuji, and the collaborations with local craftsmen that shaped his Obuse period.

What makes the Hokusai-kan special is the sense of intimacy. This is not a vast metropolitan gallery but a compact, thoughtfully lit space where you can stand close to the work of one of history's most influential artists, in the town where he actually laid down his brush. Interpretive panels trace his relationship with Takai Kozan, an amateur painter and scholar whose patronage made the late work possible, and connect the pieces to sights you can still visit nearby.

A visit rewards those who linger in Obuse afterwards. The museum sits amid a lattice of narrow lanes lined with sake breweries, chestnut-confectionery shops and the Masuichi-Ichimura merchant quarter, all within a short stroll. A ten-minute walk brings you to Ganshoin Temple, whose main hall is crowned by Hokusai's original 'Phoenix Glaring in All Directions' ceiling painting, an unmissable companion piece. Obuse is compact and flat, easy to explore on foot, and the whole town functions as an open-air extension of the museum.

The best time to come is a weekday morning, arriving before the lunchtime crowds fill the confectionery cafes, and autumn is especially rewarding when the chestnut harvest is in full swing and the surrounding orchards colour. Reaching Obuse is straightforward: the Nagaden line from Nagano Station drops you a gentle twelve-minute walk from the town centre, making the museum an easy half-day trip that combines fine art, temple treasures and one of northern Nagano's most charming old towns.