Roland DG UV Printed Reproduction of Katsushika Hokusai’s Kanmachi Festival Float Ceiling Panel “Feminine Waves” Highlights Nantes, France Exhibition

Hamamatsu, Japan, August 12, 2025 – Roland DG Corporation, a leading manufacturer of wide-format inkjet printers and printer/cutters worldwide, is pleased to announce its collaboration on the reproduction of Kanmachi Festival Float Ceiling Panel “Feminine Waves,”^*1 one of the “Hokusai (1760-1849), Masterpieces from the Hokusai-kan Museum in Obuse” being exhibited in Nantes France from June 28, 2025.

“Hokusai (1760-1849), Masterpieces from the Hokusai-kan Museum in Obuse,” Château des ducs de Bretagne / Musée d’histoire de Nantes, 2025
©David Gallard

The “Hokusai (1760-1849), Masterpieces from the Hokusai-kan Museum in Obuse” exhibition is the highlight of the “Le Voyage à Nantes” tourism campaign held every summer in the city of Nantes, a cultural and artistic hub that attracts over 1 million visitors annually. Château des ducs de Bretagne / Musée d’histoire de Nantes, the site of the exhibition, is one of the most renowned art museums in France and is expected to attract over 200,000 visitors this year. With the full cooperation of the Hokusai-kan Museum in Obuse, Nagano Prefecture, the exhibition features over 160 works by Katsushika Hokusai, including those themed around “water and waves.”

“Hokusai (1760-1849), Masterpieces from the Hokusai-kan Museum in Obuse,” Château des ducs de Bretagne / Musée d’histoire de Nantes, 2025
©David Gallard

Roland DG collaborated on the reproduction of Hokusai’s Kanmachi Festival Float Ceiling Panel “Feminine Waves,” which was created in 1845 when he was 86. The frame art is included as part of the work and was reproduced with the TrueVIS LG-640 UV printer.

Mr. Toshinobu Yasumura, Director of the Hokusai-kan Museum, said, “Our Hokusai-kan Museum will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2026 and we are actively promoting international collaboration projects to publicize the attractiveness of ‘Hokusai’s Town, Obuse’ to the world. This exhibition is being held as part of those efforts with almost all works on display coming from the Hokusai-kan Museum’s collection. However, from the perspective of preserving valuable cultural assets including maintaining physical restrictions, it is difficult to transport all works overseas, so we needed to prepare precise replicas for some pieces. The Kanmachi Festival Float Ceiling Panel “Feminine Waves” was one of them. ”

The digitalization essential for creating precise reproduction was realized through collaboration with NTT ArtTechnology,^*2 which is striving for regional revitalization through the digitalization of cultural assets, and Ars Techne Corporation,^*3 which possesses the patented DTIP technology, a high-definition three-dimensional texture image processing technology. The high-definition digital data, including fine texture information created by combining the outstanding expertise and cutting-edge technology of both companies, boasts approximately 3.6 billion pixels. Roland DG faithfully reproduced the framed artwork based on that data using the LG-640.

Mr. Iwao Kubota, President and CEO of Ars Techne said, “On the framed pictures, the animals such as lions and peacocks, as well as several kinds of flowers are drawn with vivid colors on gold leaf. In addition, there were signs of aging, such as wrinkles in the gold leaf, peeling paint exposing the wood grain of the frame, the restored painting of oil and smoke ink, and the reflective texture of various Japanese painting pigments. The goal of faithfully reproducing even the fine textures of the original work on three-dimensional objects by digital printing presented unprecedented challenges. This required special printing techniques and expertise in color matching and Roland DG successfully met our expectations. When I saw the finished replica, I couldn't help but express my admiration.”

Mr. Manabu Kunieda, President and CEO of NTT ArtTechnology, said, “The estimated complete reproduction of “Phoenix” ceiling painting in the main hall of Gansho-in Temple, which was exhibited at the “Digital x Hokusai” special exhibition “The Story of the Reincarnation of Great Phoenix Painting” held at the NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC] in 2022, was also beautifully finished. But the Kanmachi Festival Float Ceiling Panel “Feminine Waves,” can be said to be even more extraordinary. Thanks to Roland DG, it has become possible to display both “Masculine Waves” (original painting) and “Feminine Waves” (high-definition reproduction) together. I am pleased to convey the brilliant creativity of Hokusai’s later years within its background of Obuse town’s attraction to a worldwide audience.”

Roland DG will continue to create new ways of displaying and enjoying art using digital technology to provide people around the world with the joy of creativity along with the surprise and excitement that result from it.

*1 Kanmachi Festival Float Ceiling Panel “Feminine Waves”: https://hokusai-kan.com/en/
*2 NTT ArtTechnology (Japanese site): https://www.ntt-arttechnology.com/
*3 Ars Techne (Japanese site): https://www.arstechne.co.jp/

Exhibition Overview

Event Name	EXPOSITION HOKUSAI (1760-1849), CHEFS-D’ŒUVRE DU MUSÉE HOKUSAI-KAN D’OBUSE https://www.chateaunantes.fr/expositions/exposition-hokusai/
Dates	28th June - 7th September, 2025
Site	Château des ducs de Bretagne - musée dʼhistoire de Nantes4, place Marc Elder 44000 Nantes, FRANCE https://www.chateaunantes.fr/
Co-sponsored	General Incorporated Association Hokusai-kan Museum
Supported by	Ambassade du Japon en France, Obuse town, International Contemporary Art Fair “Le Voyage à Nantes”, etc.

For more information, contact:

Roland DG Corporation
ESG & PR/IR Unit
+81 (0)53-484-1200
E-Mail：rdg-pr@rolanddg.co.jp