Hokusai 北斎
Katsushika Hokusai, in an 1839 self-portrait
Birth name	Tokitarō 時太郎
Born	September 23, 1760 Edo (now Tokyo), Japan
Died	May 10, 1849(1849-05-10) (aged 88) Edo (now Tokyo), Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Field	Painting and Ukiyo-e Woodblock Printing
Works	The Great Wave
Influenced by	Katsukawa Shunshō, Kanō Masanobu
Influenced	Hiroshige

Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾 北斎^?, September 23, 1760 – May 10, 1849)^[1] was a Japanese artist, ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period. He was influenced by such painters as Sesshu, and other styles of Chinese painting.^[2] Born in Edo (now Tokyo), Hokusai is best known as author of the woodblock print series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (富嶽三十六景, Fugaku Sanjūroku-kei^?, c. 1831) which includes the internationally recognized print, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, created during the 1820s.

Hokusai created the "Thirty-Six Views" both as a response to a domestic travel boom and as part of a personal obsession with Mount Fuji.^[3] It was this series, specifically The Great Wave print and Fuji in Clear Weather, that secured Hokusai’s fame both in Japan and overseas. As historian Richard Lane concludes, "Indeed, if there is one work that made Hokusai's name, both in Japan and abroad, it must be this monumental print-series...".^[4] While Hokusai's work prior to this series is certainly important, it was not until this series that he gained broad recognition and left a lasting impact on the art world. It was also The Great Wave print that initially received, and continues to receive, acclaim and popularity in the Western world.

The Great Wave off Kanagawa, Hokusai's most famous print, the first in the series 36 Views of Mount Fuji

Early life and artistic training[link]

Hokusai was born on the 23rd day of the 9th month of the 10th year of the Tokugawa period (September 23, 1760) to an artisan family, in the Katsushika district of Edo, Japan.^[5] His childhood name was Tokitarō.^[1] It is believed his father was the mirror-maker Nakajima Ise, who produced mirrors for the shogun.^[1] His father never made Hokusai an heir, so it's possible that his mother was a concubine.^[5] Hokusai began painting around the age of six, possibly learning the art from his father, whose work on mirrors also included the painting of designs around the mirrors.^[5]

Hokusai was known by at least thirty names during his lifetime. Although the use of multiple names was a common practice of Japanese artists of the time, the numbers of names he used far exceeds that of any other major Japanese artist. Hokusai's name changes are so frequent, and so often related to changes in his artistic production and style, that they are useful for breaking his life up into periods.^[5]

At the age of 12, he was sent by his father to work in a bookshop and lending library, a popular type of institution in Japanese cities, where reading books made from wood-cut blocks was a popular entertainment of the middle and upper classes.^[6] At 14, he became an apprentice to a wood-carver, where he worked until the age of 18, whereupon he was accepted into the studio of Katsukawa Shunshō. Shunshō was an artist of ukiyo-e, a style of wood block prints and paintings that Hokusai would master, and head of the so-called Katsukawa school.^[1] Ukiyo-e, as practiced by artists like Shunshō, focused on images of the courtesans and Kabuki actors who were popular in Japan's cities at the time.^[7]

After a year, Hokusai's name changed for the first time, when he was dubbed Shunrō by his master. It was under this name that he published his first prints, a series of pictures of Kabuki actors published in 1779. During the decade he worked in Shunshō's studio, Hokusai was married to his first wife, about whom very little is known except that she died in the early 1790s. He married again in 1797, although this second wife also died after a short time. He fathered two sons and three daughters with these two wives, and his youngest daughter Sakae, also known as Ōi, eventually became an artist.^[7]

Upon the death of Shunshō in 1793, Hokusai began exploring other styles of art, including European styles he was exposed to through French and Dutch copper engravings he was able to acquire.^[7] He was soon expelled from the Katsukawa school by Shunkō, the chief disciple of Shunshō, possibly due to studies at the rival Kanō school. This event was, in his own words, inspirational: "What really motivated the development of my artistic style was the embarrassment I suffered at Shunkō's hands."^[4]

The print Red Fuji from Hokusai's series, Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji.

Travellers Crossing the Oi River, one of the ten prints Hokusai added to the original 36 prints in 36 Views of Mount Fuji. He was prompted to add these prints because of the popularity of the original series.

Hokusai also changed the subjects of his works, moving away from the images of courtesans and actors that were the traditional subjects of ukiyo-e. Instead, his work became focused on landscapes and images of the daily life of Japanese people from a variety of social levels. This change of subject was a breakthrough in ukiyo-e and in Hokusai's career.^[7] Fireworks at Ryōgoku Bridge (1790) dates from this period of Hokusai's life.^[8]

Height of career[link]

The next period saw Hokusai's association with the Tawaraya School and the adoption of the name "Tawaraya Sōri". He produced many brush paintings, called surimono, and illustrations for kyōka ehon (illustrated book of humorous poems) during this time. In 1798, Hokusai passed his name on to a pupil and set out as an independent artist, free from ties to a school for the first time, adopting the name Hokusai Tomisa.

Cranes from Quick Lessons in Simplified Drawing

By 1800, Hokusai was further developing his use of ukiyo-e for purposes other than portraiture. He had also adopted the name he would most widely be known by, Katsushika Hokusai, the former name referring to the part of Edo where he was born and the latter meaning, 'north studio'. That year, he published two collections of landscapes, Famous Sights of the Eastern Capital and Eight Views of Edo. He also began to attract students of his own, eventually teaching 50 pupils over the course of his life.^[7]

He became increasingly famous over the next decade, both due to his artwork and his talent for self-promotion. During a Tokyo festival in 1804, he created a portrait of the Buddhist priest Daruma said to be 600 feet (180 m) long using a broom and buckets full of ink. Another story places him in the court of the Shogun Iyenari, invited there to compete with another artist who practiced more traditional brush stroke painting. Hokusai's painting, created in front of the Shogun, consisted of painting a blue curve on paper, then chasing a chicken across it whose feet had been dipped in red paint. He described the painting to the Shogun as a landscape showing the Tatsuta River with red maple leaves floating in it, winning the competition.^[9]

1807 saw Hokusai collaborate with the popular novelist Takizawa Bakin on a series of illustrated books. The two did not get along due to artistic differences, and their collaboration ended during work on their fourth book. The publisher, given the choice between keeping Hokusai or Bakin on the project, opted to keep Hokusai, emphasizing the importance of illustrations in printed works of the period.^[10]

Image of bathers from the Hokusai manga

In 1811, at the age of 51, Hokusai changed his name to Taito and entered the period in which he created the Hokusai Manga and various etehon, or art manuals.^[1] These etehon, beginning in 1812 with Quick Lessons in Simplified Drawing, served as a convenient way to make money and attract more students. The first book of Hokusai's manga, sketches or caricatures that influenced the modern form of comics known by the same name, was published in 1814. Together, his 12 volumes of manga published before 1820 and three more published posthumously include thousands of drawings of animals, religious figures, and everyday people. They often have humorous overtones, and were very popular at the time.^[10]

In 1820, Hokusai changed his name yet again, this time to "Iitsu," a change which marked the start of a period in which he secured fame as an artist throughout Japan (though, given Japan's isolation from the outside world during his lifetime, his fame overseas came after his death). It was during the 1820s that Hokusai reached the peak of his career. His most famous work, Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, including the famous Great Wave off Kanagawa, dated from this period. It proved so popular that Hokusai later added ten more prints to the series. Among the other popular series of prints he published during this time are A Tour of the Waterfalls of the Provinces and Unusual Views of Celebrated Bridges in the Provinces.^[11] He also began producing a number of detailed individual images of flowers and birds, including the extraordinarily detailed Poppies and Flock of Chickens.^[12]

Later life[link]

First Westerners in Japan, by Hokusai, 1817. Caption: "On August 25, 1543, these foreigners were cast upon the island of Tanegashima, Okuma Province", followed by the two names Murashukusha (unknown) and Kirishimota (António da Mota, also known as Christopher da Mota).^[13]

The next period, beginning in 1834, saw Hokusai working under the name "Gakyō Rōjin Manji" (The Old Man Mad About Art).^[8] It was at this time that Hokusai produced One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji, another significant landscape series.^[12]

In the postscript to this work, Hokusai writes:

In 1839, disaster struck as a fire destroyed Hokusai's studio and much of his work. By this time, his career was beginning to wane as younger artists such as Andō Hiroshige became increasingly popular. But Hokusai never stopped painting, and completed Ducks in a Stream at the age of 87.^[14]

Constantly seeking to produce better work, he apparently exclaimed on his deathbed, "If only Heaven will give me just another ten years... Just another five more years, then I could become a real painter." He died on May 10, 1849, and was buried at the Seikyō-ji in Tokyo (Taito Ward).^[1]

Works and influences[link]

Hodogaya on the Tokaido

The Dragon of Smoke Escaping from Mt Fuji

Carp Leaping up a Cascade

The Strong Oi Pouring Sake

Hokusai had a long career, but he produced most of his important work after age 60. His most popular work is the ukiyo-e series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, which was created between 1826 and 1833. It actually consists of 46 prints (10 of them added after initial publication).^[4] In addition, he is responsible for the 1834 One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji (富嶽百景, Fugaku Hyakkei^?), a work which "is generally considered the masterpiece among his landscape picture books."^[4] His ukiyo-e transformed the art form from a style of portraiture focused on the courtesans and actors popular during the Edo Period in Japan's cities into a much broader style of art that focused on landscapes, plants, and animals.^[7] A collection of 300-year-old woodblock Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji prints, contained in the wellness spa of the Costa Concordia was lost during the collision of the ship on January 13, 2012.^[15]

Both Hokusai’s choice of nom d'artiste and frequent depiction of Mt. Fuji stem from his religious beliefs. The name Hokusai (北斎^?) means "North Studio (room)," an abbreviation of Hokushinsai (北辰際^?) or "North Star Studio." Hokusai was a member of the Nichiren sect of Buddhism, who see the North Star as associated with the deity Myōken (妙見菩薩^?).^[4] Mount Fuji has traditionally been linked with eternal life. This belief can be traced to The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, where a goddess deposits the elixir of life on the peak. As Henry Smith expounds, "Thus from an early time, Mt. Fuji was seen as the source of the secret of immortality, a tradition that was at the heart of Hokusai's own obsession with the mountain."^[3]

The largest of Hokusai's works is the 15-volume collection Hokusai Manga (北斎漫画^?), a book crammed with nearly 4,000 sketches that was published in 1814.^[4] These sketches are often incorrectly considered the precedent to modern manga, as Hokusai's Manga is a collection of sketches (of animals, people, objects, etc.), different from the story-based comic-book style of modern manga.^[4]

Influences on art and culture[link]

Hokusai inspired the Hugo Award winning short story by science fiction author Roger Zelazny, "24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai", in which the protagonist tours the area surrounding Mt. Fuji, stopping at locations painted by Hokusai.

His influences also stretched to his contemporaries in nineteenth century Europe whose new style Art Nouveau, or Jugendstil in Germany, was influenced by him and by Japanese art in general. This was also part of the larger Impressionism movement, with similar themes to Hokusai appearing in Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. According to the Brooklyn Rail Many artists collected his woodcuts: Degas, Gauguin, Klimt, Franz Marc, August Macke, Manet, and van Gogh included.^[16] Hermann Obrist's whiplash motif, or Peitschenhieb, which came to exemplify the new movement, is visibly influenced by Hokusai's work.

Listing of selected works[link]

The following is a selected list of Hokusai's works, listed chronologically. Each of these works has been mentioned or used as an illustration by one of Hokusai's biographers, and is either representative of Hokusai's best work or of specific periods in the development of his art.^[17]

• Lady and Attendants (c. 1779) Painting on silk
• Asakusa Shrine, Edo (c. 1780) Wood-block print
• Four Courtesans of the House of Chojiya (1782) Wood-block print
• Seyawa Kikujuro Acting Woman's Part (1783) Wood-block print
• Actor Danjurō (1784) Wood-block print
• Chinese Boys at Play (1789) Wood-block print
• Attack on Moranoa's Castle from Chusingura (1789–1806) Wood-block print^[18]
• A Ferryboat with Passengers Bearing New Year's Gifts (c. 1800) Surinomo
• Portrait of the Artist from The Tactics of General Oven (1800) Wood-block print in novel
• Amusements of the Eastern Capital (1800–1802) Wood-block print series
• Shower at Shin-Yangi Bridge from Both Banks of the Sumida River (1803) Wood-block print in guidebook
• The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (1806) Wood-block print series
• Chinese Tortures from Bakin's Cruelties of Dobki (1807) Wood-block print in novel
• Quick Lessons on Simplified Drawing (1812) Illustrated guidebook
• Hokusai Manga (1814–1834) Sketched illustrations, 15 volumes
• Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (1823–1829) Wood-block print series
• Painting in Three Forms (1816) Illustrated guidebook
• The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife (1820) Famous erotic wood block print
• Designs with a single stroke of the brush (1823) Illustrated guidebook
• A Tour of the Waterfalls of the Provinces (1827–1830) Wood-block print series
• Unusual Views of Celebrated Bridges in the Provinces (1827–1830) Wood-block print series
• Small Flowers (1830) Wood-block print series
• Large Flowers (Hokusai) (1830) Wood-block print series
• Oceans of Wisdom (1833) Wood-block print series
• One-Hundred Views of Mount Fuji (Hokusai) (1834)
• Book of Warriors (1836) Wood-block print series
• Self-Portrait (1839) Drawing
• Willow and Young Crows (1842) Painting on silk
• A Wood Gatherer (1849) Painting on silk

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Lane, Richard. (1978). Images from the Floating World, The Japanese Print. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10-ISBN 0192114476/13-ISBN 9780192114471; OCLC 5246796
• Nagata, Seiji (1995). Hokusai: Genius of the Japanese Ukiyo-e. Kodansha International, Tokyo.
• Smith, Henry D. II (1988). Hokusai: One Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji. George Braziller, Inc., Publishers, New York. ISBN 0-8076-1195-6.
• Weston, Mark (1999). Giants of Japan: The Lives of Japan's Most Influential Men and Women. New York: Kodansha International. ISBN 1-56836-286-2.
• Ray, Deborah Kogan (2001). "Hokusai : the man who painted a mountain" Frances Foster Books, New York. ISBN 0-374-33263-0

Further reading[link]

General biography[link]

• Bowie, Theodore (1964). The Drawings of Hokusai. Indiana University Press, Bloomington.
• Forrer, Matthi (1988). Hokusai Rizzoli, New York. ISBN 0-8478-0989-7.
• Forrer, Matthi; van Gulik, Willem R., and Kaempfer, Heinz M. (1982). Hokusai and His School: Paintings, Drawings and Illustrated Books. Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem. ISBN 90-70216-02-7
• Hillier, Jack (1955). Hokusai: Paintings, Drawings and Woodcuts. Phaidon, London.
• Hillier, Jack (1980). Art of Hokusai in Book Illustration. Sotheby Publications, London. ISBN 0-520-04137-2.
• Lane, Richard (1989). Hokusai: Life and Work. E.P. Dutton. ISBN 0-525-24455-7.
• van Rappard-Boon, Charlotte (1982). Hokusai and his School: Japanese Prints c. 1800–1840 (Catalogue of the Collection of Japanese Prints, Rijksmuseum, Part III). Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Specific works of art[link]

For readers who want more information on specific works of art by Hokusai, these particular works are recommended.

• Hillier, Jack, and Dickens, F.W. (1960). Fugaku Hiyaku-kei (One Hundred Views of Fuji by Hokusai). Frederick, New York.
• Kondo, Ichitaro (1966). Trans. Terry, Charles S. The Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji by Hokusai. East-West Center, Honolulu.
• Michener, James A. (1958). The Hokusai Sketch-Books: Selections from the 'Manga'. Charles E. Tuttle, Rutland.
• Morse, Peter (1989). Hokusai: One Hundred Poets. George Braziller, New York. ISBN 0-8076-1213-8.
• Narazaki, Muneshige (1968). Trans. Bester, John. Masterworks of Ukiyo-E: Hokusai – The Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji. Kodansha, Tokyo.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Katsushika Hokusai

• Hokusai's works at Tokyo Digital Museum
• Site with almost 3000 high-quality images of Hokusai prints
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art's (New York) entry on "The Great Wave at Kanagawa."
• Hokusai-Museum in Obuse, Japan
• Katsushika Hokusai at Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington Connecticut
• Academic site on Hokusai's "Great Wave" print^{[dead link]}
• Good images of his manga etc
• External links from the Hokusai museum
• A complete Hokusai Book, Hokusai Manga Vol 12 in Touch & Turn format
• Over 1500 images of Hokusai prints at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• Hokusai's Working Method Discovered
• Hokusai's prints in the Minneapolis Museum of Art
• Hokusai-Works