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Katsushika Hokusai (1760 - 1849)

During the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1868), the shogun required that the daimyo (lords) and their samurai spend time in Edo (now Tokyo) during alternate years. As a result, a large recreation and entertainment industry grew in Edo, serving first the daimyo and their samurai, and later the growing populace of Edo itself. This industry was referred to as ukiyo --- the floating world.

Ukiyo-e, images of the "floating world" (everyday life), are the woodblock prints of old Edo. Ukiyo-e are the images of the floating world and of the pleasures therein. Typical subjects include pictures of bijin (beautiful women), kacho (birds and flowers), the kabuki theater, sumo, meisho (famous views), and scenes from history and myth as well as abuna-e and shunga (erotica).

Katsushika Hokusai (1760 - 1849) was a Japanese painter and wood engraver, born in Edo (now Tokyo). He is considered one of the outstanding figures of the Ukiyo-e school of printmaking. Hokusai entered the studio of his countryman Katsukawa Shunsho in 1775 and there learned the new, popular technique of woodcut printmaking. Between 1796 and 1802 he produced a vast number of book illustrations and color prints, perhaps as many as 30,000, that drew their inspiration from the traditions, legends, and lives of the Japanese people. Hokusai's most typical wood-block prints, silkscreens, and landscape paintings were done between 1830 and 1840.

     

some of the 36 views of Mount Fuji 

Fujibig

The great wave off Kanagawa

Fuji7

Fine wind, clear morning

Onden no Suisha
The Water Mill at Onden

Nobuto-Ura
The Inlet of Nobuto

Shimomeguro
A rural village in Edo

Tokaido Ejiri Tagonoura
The Tago Beach at Ejiri on the Tokaido

Onmayagashi Yori
The sunset view across the Ryogoku bridge from the bank of the Sumida river at Onmayagashi

Bushu Senju
Senju in Musashi Province

Koshu Mishima Goe
Mishima Pass in Kai Province

Bishu Fujimihara
Mt. Fuji as seen through a large tub

 

Totomi Sanchu
in the mountain of Totomi

Aoyama Enza-no-matsu
The round pine tree at Aoyama

Koshu Inume Toge
Inume Pass in Kai Province

Sumidagawa Sekiya no Sato
Sekiya village on the Sumida river

Soshu Hakone Kosui
The lake at Hakone in Sagami Province

Honjo Tatekawa
Tatekawa in Honjo

Bushu Tamagawa
The Tama river in the province of Musasahi

Toto Asakusa Honganji
Sensoji Temple at Asakusa in Edo

Tokaido Hodogaya
Hodogaya on the Tokaido Highway

Umezawa in Sagami Province

Eijiri in the Province of Suruga

Kajikazawa in the Province of Kai

Yoshida on the Tokaido

At Sea Off Kazusa

Mannenbashi Bridge at Fukugawa

The Five-Hundred-Rakan Temple in Edo

Fuji2

The Katakura tea plantation in Suruga Province

Fuji3

Reflection in Lake Misaka

Fuji8  

Rainstorm beneath the summit

Fuji9  

The crossing of Ôigawa at Kanaya

 

Created: 22nd April 1996 - - - - Last Updated: 13th January 2001