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{{Short description|Japanese artist (1760–1849)}}
{{About|the Japanese artist|the crater on Mercury|Hokusai (crater)}}
{{Family name hatnote|Katsushika|lang=Japanese}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox artist
| name             = Hokusai
| native_name      = 北斎
| image            = Hokusai as an old man.jpg
| caption          = Self-portrait as an old man
| birth_name       = Tokitarō<br />{{Lang|ja|時太郎}}
| birth_date       = supposedly {{Birth date|df=yes|1760|10|31}}
| birth_place      = [[Edo (Tokyo)|Edo]], Japan
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1849|5|10|1760|10|31}}
| death_place      = Edo, Japan
| field            = [[Ukiyo-e]] painting, [[Manga]] and [[Woodblock printing in Japan|woodblock printing]]
| works            = ''[[The Great Wave off Kanagawa]]'' <br> ''[[Fine Wind, Clear Morning]]''<br>''[[The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife]]''
}}

{{Nihongo|'''Katsushika Hokusai'''{{efn|{{IPA|ja|ka.tsɯꜜ.ɕi̥.ka {{pipe}} hoꜜ.kɯ̥.sai, ka.tsɯ.ɕi̥.ka hoꜜ.kɯ̥.sai, ka.tsɯꜜ.ɕi̥.ka ({{pipe}}) ho.kɯ̥.sai, ka.tsɯꜜ.ɕi̥.ka {{pipe}} ho.kɯ̥.saꜜi}}<ref name=meikai>{{cite book|script-title=ja:新明解日本語アクセント辞典|edition=2nd|editor-last=Kindaichi|editor-first=Haruhiko|editor-last2=Akinaga|editor-first2=Kazue|publisher=[[Sanseidō]]|date=10 March 2025|lang=ja|editor-link=Haruhiko Kindaichi}}</ref>}}|葛飾 北斎||{{c.}} 31 October 1760 – 10 May 1849}}, known [[mononym]]ously as '''Hokusai''', was a Japanese [[ukiyo-e]] artist of the [[Edo period]], active as a painter and [[printmaker]].<ref>[[Louis Frédéric|Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric]]. (2005). [https://books.google.com/books?id=p2QnPijAEmEC&pg=PA345&dq= "Hokusai"] in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 345.</ref> His [[woodblock printing in Japan|woodblock print]] series ''[[Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji]]'' includes the iconic print ''[[The Great Wave off Kanagawa]]''. Hokusai was instrumental in developing ''ukiyo-e'' from a style of [[portraiture]] largely focused on [[courtesan]]s and actors into a much broader style of art that focused on landscapes, plants, and animals. His works had a significant influence on [[Vincent van Gogh]] and [[Claude Monet]] during the wave of [[Japonisme]] that spread across Europe in the late 19th century.

Hokusai created the monumental ''Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji'' as a response to a domestic travel boom in Japan and as part of a personal interest in [[Mount Fuji]].<ref name="smith"/> It was this series, specifically, ''The Great Wave off Kanagawa'' and ''[[Fine Wind, Clear Morning]]'', that secured his fame both in Japan and overseas.<ref>Kleiner, Fred S. and Christin J. Mamiya, (2009). [https://books.google.com/books?id=TlVeuxIgjwQC&pg=PA115&dq= ''Gardner's Art Through the Ages: Non-Western Perspectives,'' p. 115].</ref>

Hokusai was best known for his woodblock ukiyo-e prints, but he worked in a variety of mediums including painting and book illustration. Starting as a young child, he continued working and improving his style until his death, aged 88. In a long and successful career, Hokusai produced over 30,000 paintings, sketches, woodblock prints, and images for picture books. Innovative in his compositions and exceptional in his drawing technique, Hokusai is considered one of the greatest masters in the [[history of art]].

==Early life==
[[File:Katsushika Hokusai - Courtesan asleep - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''Courtesan Asleep'', a ''[[bijin-ga]]'' [[surimono]] print, {{circa|late 18th to early 19th century}}]]
[[File:Enjoying the Evening Cool Viewing Fireworks at Ryôgoku Bridge by Hokusai 1780.jpg|thumb|''Fireworks in the Cool of Evening at Ryogoku Bridge in Edo'', print, {{circa|1788–89}}]]
Hokusai's date of birth is unclear, but is often stated as the 23rd day of the 9th month of the 10th year of the [[Hōreki]] era (in the [[Japanese calendar|old calendar]], or 31 October 1760) to an [[artisan]] family, in the [[Katsushika]]<sup>[[:ja:葛飾郡|[ja]]]</sup> district of [[Edo]], the capital of the ruling [[Tokugawa shogunate]] (currently [[Katsushika|Katsushika-ku]], [[Tokyo]]).<ref name="weston116"/> His childhood name was Tokitarō.<ref name="nagata"/> It is believed his father was Nakajima Ise, a [[mirror]]-maker for the [[shōgun]].<ref name="nagata"/> His father never made Hokusai an heir, so it is possible that his mother was a [[concubine]].<ref name="weston116"/> Hokusai began painting around the age of six, perhaps learning from his father, whose work included the painting of designs around mirrors.<ref name="weston116"/>

Hokusai was known by at least thirty names during his lifetime. While the use of multiple names was a common practice of Japanese artists of the time, his number of [[pseudonym]]s exceeds that of any other major Japanese artist. His name changes are so frequent, and so often related to changes in his artistic production and style, that they are used for breaking his life up into periods.<ref name="weston116"/>

At the age of 12, his father sent him to work in a bookshop and [[lending library]], a popular institution in Japanese cities, where reading books made from woodcut blocks was a popular entertainment of the middle and upper classes.<ref name="weston"/> At 14, he worked as an apprentice to a woodcarver, until the age of 18, when he entered the studio of [[Katsukawa Shunshō]]. Shunshō was an artist of ''[[ukiyo-e]]'', a style of woodblock prints and paintings that Hokusai would master, and head of the so-called Katsukawa school.<ref name="nagata"/> ''Ukiyo-e'', as practised by artists like Shunshō, focused on images of the [[courtesan]]s (''[[bijin-ga]]'') and [[kabuki]] actors (''[[yakusha-e]]'') who were popular in Japan's cities at the time.<ref name="weston117"/>

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 Ei, also known as [[Katsushika Ōi|Ōi]], eventually became an artist and his assistant.<ref name="weston117"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://ci.nii.ac.jp/author/DA10315358?l=en|title=葛飾, 応為 カツシカ, オウイ|language=ja|publisher=[[CiNii]]|access-date=22 May 2017}}</ref> ''Fireworks in the Cool of Evening at Ryogoku Bridge in Edo'' ({{circa|1788–89}}) dates from this period of Hokusai's life.<ref>Calza (2003), p. 426</ref>

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.<ref name="weston117"/> He was soon expelled from the Katsukawa school by Shunkō, the chief disciple of Shunshō, possibly due to his 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".<ref name="lane"/>

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.<ref name="weston117"/>

==Middle period==
[[File:Hokusai-MangaBathingPeople.jpg|thumb|Image of bathers from the ''[[Hokusai Manga]]'']]
[[File:Hokusai Daruma 1817.jpg|thumb|Contemporary print of Hokusai painting the ''[[Great Daruma]]'' in 1817]]
[[File:Great Wave off Kanagawa2.jpg|thumb|''[[The Great Wave off Kanagawa]]'', Hokusai's most famous print, the first in the series ''[[Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji]]'', {{circa|1829–1832}}]]
[[File:Katsushika Hokusai - Fine Wind, Clear Morning (Gaifū kaisei) - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''[[Fine Wind, Clear Morning]]'' (or ''Red Fuji''), <br /> from ''[[Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji]]'']]
The next period saw Hokusai's association with the Tawaraya School and the adoption of the name "Tawaraya Sōri". He produced many privately commissioned prints for special occasions (''[[surimono]]''), and illustrations for books of humorous poems (''kyōka ehon'') 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.

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, the latter meaning 'north studio', in honour of the [[North Star]], symbol of a deity important in his religion of [[Nichiren Buddhism]].<ref>The name "Hokusai" (北斎 "North Studio"） is an abbreviation of "Hokushinsai" (北辰際 "North Star Studio"). In Nichiren Buddhism the North Star is revered as a deity known as [[Myōken]].</ref> That year, he published two collections of landscapes, ''Famous Sights of the Eastern Capital'' and ''Eight Views of Edo'' (modern Tokyo). He also began to attract students of his own, eventually teaching 50 pupils over the course of his life.<ref name="weston117"/>

He became increasingly famous over the next decade, both due to his artwork and his talent for self-promotion. During an Edo festival in 1804, he created an enormous portrait of the Buddhist prelate [[Bodhidharma|Daruma]], said to be 200 square meters, using a broom and buckets full of ink.<ref>Calza (2003), p. 128</ref> Another story places him in the court of the [[shōgun]] [[Tokugawa Ienari]], invited there to compete with another artist who practised more traditional brushstroke painting. Hokusai painted a blue curve on paper, then chased a chicken whose feet had been dipped in red paint across the image. He described the painting to the shōgun as a landscape showing the Tatsuta River with red maple leaves floating in it, winning the competition.<ref name="weston1"/>

Between 1804 and 1815, Hokusai collaborated with the popular novelist [[Takizawa Bakin]] on a series of illustrated books. Especially popular was the fantasy novel ''Chinsetsu Yumiharizuki'' (''Strange Tales of the Crescent Moon'', 1807–1811) with [[Minamoto no Tametomo]] as the main character, and Hokusai gained fame with his creative and powerful illustrations, but the collaboration ended after thirteen works. There are various theories as to why they dissolved their cooperation, such as discordant personalities and conflicting opinions on how to draw illustrations.<ref>[http://www.nhk.or.jp/nichibi-blog/400/314461.html 日美ブログ 第86回 深川・両国・九段へ 北斎と馬琴の面影を探す旅.] [[NHK]]. 17 February 2019</ref><ref>[https://hokusai-kan.com/blog/708/ 曲亭馬琴と葛飾北斎] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027185308/https://hokusai-kan.com/blog/708/ |date=27 October 2020 }} Hokusai Museum.</ref> Hokusai also created several albums of [[erotic art]] (''[[Shunga (art)|shunga]]''). His most famous image in this genre is ''[[The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife]]'', which depicts a young woman entwined sexually with a pair of octopuses, from ''[[Kinoe no Komatsu]]'', a three-volume book of shunga from 1814.<ref>Calza (2003), p. 455</ref>

Hokusai paid close attention to the production of his work. In letters during his involvement with ''Toshisen Ehon'', a Japanese edition of an anthology of Chinese poetry, Hokusai wrote to the publisher that the blockcutter [[Egawa Tomekichi]], with whom Hokusai had previously worked and whom he respected, had strayed from Hokusai's style in the cutting of certain heads. He also wrote directly to another blockcutter involved in the project, Sugita Kinsuke, stating that he disliked the [[Utagawa school]] style in which Kinsuke had cut the figure's eyes and noses and that amendments were needed for the final prints to be true to his style. In his letter, Hokusai included examples of both his style of illustrating eyes and noses and the Utagawa school style.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Tinios|first1=Ellis|title=Hokusai and his Blockcutters|journal=Print Quarterly|date=June 2015|volume=XXXII|issue=2|pages=186–191}}</ref>

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.<ref name="nagata"/> These manuals beginning in 1812 with ''Quick Lessons in Simplified Drawing'', were intended as a convenient way to make money and attract more students. The first volume of ''Manga'' (meaning random drawings) was published in 1814 and was an immediate success.<ref>Hillier, Jack R. (1980). ''The Art of Hokusai in Book Illustration''. London: Sotheby Parke Bernet; Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press. p. 107</ref> By 1820, he had produced twelve volumes (with three more published posthumously) which include thousands of drawings of objects, plants, animals, religious figures, and everyday people, often with humorous overtones.<ref name="weston118"/>

On 5 October 1817, he painted the ''[[Great Daruma]]'' outside the [[Hongan-ji Nagoya Betsuin]] in Nagoya. This portrait in ink on paper measured 18 × 10.8 metres, and the event drew huge crowds. The feat was recounted in a popular song and he received the name "''Darusen''{{-"}} or "Daruma Master"<ref>A shortened form of ''Daruma [[Sensei]]''.</ref><ref>Calza (2003), p. 192</ref> Although the original was destroyed in 1945, Hokusai's promotional handbills from that time survived and are preserved at the [[Nagoya City Museum]].

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. His most celebrated work, ''[[Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji]]'', including the famous ''[[The Great Wave off Kanagawa]]'' and ''[[Red Fuji]]'' was produced in the early 1830s. The results of Hokusai's perspectival studies in ''Manga'' can be seen here in ''The Great Wave'' where he uses what would have been seen as a western perspective to represent depth and volume.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Screech|first=Timon|year=2012|title=Hokusai's Lines of Sight|jstor=41601844|journal=Mechademia|volume=7|page=107<!--|pages=103-109-->|doi=10.1353/mec.2012.0009|s2cid=119865798}}</ref> It proved so popular that ten more prints were later added to the series. Among the other popular series of prints he made during this time are ''[[A Tour of the Waterfalls of the Provinces]]'', ''[[Oceans of Wisdom]]'' and ''Unusual Views of Celebrated Bridges in the Provinces''.<ref name="weston2"/> He also began producing a number of detailed individual images of flowers and birds (''[[kachō-e]]''), including the extraordinarily detailed ''Poppies'' and ''Flock of Chickens''.<ref name="weston119"/>

==Later life==
[[File:Portrait of Katsushika Hokusai by disciple Keisai Eisen.png|thumb|Portrait of Hokusai by disciple Keisai Eisen]]
The next period, beginning in 1834, saw Hokusai working under the name "Gakyō Rōjin Manji" ({{lang|ja|画狂老人卍}}; "The Old Man Mad About Art").<ref name="gvjh.org"/> It was at this time that he produced ''[[One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji]]'', another significant series,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.mfa.org/collections/object/fugaku-hyakkei-one-hundred-views-of-mount-fuji-334906 |title=Fugaku hyakkei (One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji) |date=2018-12-21 |website=Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |language=en |access-date=2019-01-22 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> generally considered "the masterpiece among his landscape picture books".<ref name="lane"/>

In the [[colophon (publishing)|colophon]] to this work, Hokusai writes:

{{blockquote|From the age of six, I had a passion for copying the form of things and since the age of fifty I have published many drawings, yet of all I drew by my seventieth year there is nothing worth taking into account. At seventy-three years I partly understood the structure of animals, birds, insects and fishes, and the life of grasses and plants. And so, at eighty-six I shall progress further; at ninety I shall even further penetrate their secret meaning, and by one hundred I shall perhaps truly have reached the level of the marvellous and divine. When I am one hundred and ten, each dot, each line will possess a life of its own.<ref>Calza, Gian Carlo. "Hokusau: A Universe" in ''Hokusai'', p. 7.  Phaidon</ref>}}

''A True Mirror of Chinese and Japanese Poetry'' (''Shika shashin kyo''), produced in about 1833 to 1834, was printed in extra-long vertical formats resembling the form of Chinese hand scrolls. Prints in this series include poems by Chinese and Japanese poets combined with scenes in those countries, and scenes from [[Noh]] plays (a form of dance theater predating [[kabuki]]). Ten designs in this series survive.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=Sarah E. |title=Hokusai's landscapes: the complete series |date=2019 |publisher=MFA publications Museum of fine arts |isbn=978-0-87846-866-9 |edition=First |location=Boston |pages=151–165 |language=English}}</ref>

Hokusai's final print series, produced around 1835 to 1836, was called ''One Hundred Poems Explained by a Nurse (Hyakunin isshu tuba ga etoki).'' The series was never published in full, perhaps due to financial hardships faced by Hokusai's publishers during Japan's economic downturn in the mid-1830's.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=Sarah E. |title=Hokusai's landscapes: the complete series |date=2019 |publisher=MFA publications Museum of fine arts |isbn=978-0-87846-866-9 |edition=First |location=Boston |pages=167}}</ref> These prints featured scenes with the poems inscribed in a square. Each print also contains the series title listed in its own vertical rectangle.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=Sarah E. |title=Hokusai's landscapes: the complete series |date=2019 |publisher=MFA publications Museum of fine arts |isbn=978-0-87846-866-9 |edition=First |location=Boston |pages=167–203 |language=English}}</ref>

In 1839, a fire destroyed Hokusai's studio and much of his work. By this time, his career was beginning to fade as younger artists such as [[Andō Hiroshige]] became increasingly popular. At the age of 83, Hokusai traveled to [[Obuse]] in [[Shinano Province]] (now [[Nagano Prefecture]]) at the invitation of a wealthy farmer, Takai Kozan, where he stayed for several years.<ref name="Hokusai Museum">{{cite web |title=Welcome to the World of Hokusai, an "Old Man Mad About Painting"! |url=https://hokusai-kan.com/en/ |website=Hokusai Kan |date=7 March 2018 |publisher=Hokusai Museum |access-date=16 May 2019}}</ref> During his time in Obuse, he created several masterpieces, including the ''Masculine Wave'' and the ''Feminine Wave''.<ref name="Hokusai Museum" /> Between 1842 and 1843, in what he described as "daily exorcisms" (''nisshin joma''), Hokusai painted Chinese lions (''[[Chinese guardian lions|shishi]]'') every morning in ink on paper as a [[talisman]] against misfortune.<ref>{{cite book|title=Visual Genesis of Japanese National Identity: Hokusai's Hyakunin Isshu|first=Ewa|last=Machotka|publisher=Peter Lang|year=2009|isbn=978-90-5201-482-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2VZDzGQlPd8C&pg=PA214}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/16023/lot/252/|title=Fine Japanese Art, lot 252|publisher=Bonhams|year=2008|access-date=5 November 2020}}</ref> Hokusai continued working almost until the end, painting ''The Dragon of Smoke Escaping from Mt Fuji''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.katsushikahokusai.com/The-Dragon-of-Smoke-Escaping-from-Mount-Fuji.jsp|website=KatsushikaHokusai.com|title=The Dragon of Smoke Escaping From Mount Fuji, 1849 by Hokusai|access-date=2 November 2020|archive-date=31 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121231190129/https://www.katsushikahokusai.com/The-Dragon-of-Smoke-Escaping-from-Mount-Fuji.jsp|url-status=dead}}</ref> and ''[[Tiger in the Snow]]'' in early 1849.<ref name="Tsuji Nobou in Calza 2003, p. 72">Tsuji Nobou in Calza (2003), p. 72</ref>

Constantly seeking to produce better work, he apparently exclaimed on his deathbed, "If only Heaven will give me just another ten years&nbsp;... Just another five more years, then I could become a real painter". He died on 10 May 1849<ref>(18th day of the 4th month of the 2nd year of the [[Kaei|Kaei era]] by the old calendar)</ref> and was buried at the [[Seikyō-ji]] (誓教寺) in Tokyo (Taito Ward).<ref name="nagata" /> A [[haiku]] he composed shortly before his death reads: "Though as a ghost, I shall lightly tread, the summer fields".<ref name="Tsuji Nobou in Calza 2003, p. 72" />

==Selected works==
<gallery mode="packed" widths="200" heights="200">
File:Katsushika Hokusai, tempesta sotto la vetta, dalla serie delle 36 vedute del monte fuji, 1831 ca.jpg|''[[Thunderstorm Beneath the Summit]]'', <br /> from ''[[Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji]]''
File:Katsushika Hokusai, Japanese - Pilgrims at Kirifuri Waterfall on Mount Kurokami in Shimotsuke Province - Google Art Project.jpg|''Kirifuri waterfall at Kurokami Mountain in Shimotsuke'', <br />from ''[[A Tour of the Waterfalls of the Provinces|A Tour of Japanese Waterfalls]]''
File:The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife, British Museum, version 1 (cropped).jpg|''[[The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife]]'' (1814), included in ''[[Kinoe no Komatsu]]'', a three-volume book of shunga erotica
File:Hokusai (1828) Cuckoo and Azaleas.jpg|''Cuckoo and Azaleas'', 1834<br />from the Small Flower series
File:Egrets from Quick Lessons in Simplified Drawing, Hokusai, 1823.jpg|[[Egret]]s from ''Quick Lessons in Simplified Drawing''
File:Carp leaping up a cascade.jpg|''Carp Leaping up a Cascade''
File:Katsushika Hokusai - The Lantern Ghost, Iwa - Google Art Project.jpg|''The Ghost of Oiwa'', <br />from ''[[One Hundred Ghost Stories]]''
File:Hokusai-shikishiban-still-life.jpg|''Still Life'', [[surimono]] print
File:Kajikazawa in Kai province.jpg|''[[Kajikazawa in Kai Province]]'', <br />from ''[[Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji]]''
File:諸國名橋奇覧 摂洲天満橋-Tenman Bridge at Settsu Province (Sesshū Tenmanbashi), from the series Remarkable Views of Bridges in Various Provinces (Shokoku meikyō kiran) MET DP141277.jpg|''Tenma Bridge in Setsu Province'', <br />from ''Rare Views of Famous Japanese Bridges''
File:Hokusai 1760-1849 Ocean waves.jpg|''Chōshi in Shimosha'', <br /> from ''[[Oceans of Wisdom]]''
File:The Big wave from 100 views of the Fuji, 2nd volume.jpg|"The Big Wave" from ''[[One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji]]''
File:Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), Veld in de Owari provincie (1829-33).jpg|''Amida Falls'', <br />from ''[[A Tour of the Waterfalls of the Provinces|A Tour of Japanese Waterfalls]]''
File:Hokusai Dragon.jpg|''Dragon'' on the Higashimachi Festival Float, Obuse, 1844
File:Femenine wave.jpg|''Feminine Wave'', painted while living in [[Obuse, Nagano|Obuse]], 1845
File:Hokusai-fuji-koryuu.png|''The Dragon of Smoke Escaping From Mount Fuji'', painting, 1849
File:Hokusai, Tiger in the Snow.jpg|''[[Tiger in the Snow]]'', hanging scroll, ink and colour on silk, 1849
</gallery>

==Influence on art and culture==
[[File:Debussy - La Mer - The great wave of Kanaga from Hokusai.jpg|thumb|Cover of [[Debussy]]'s ''[[La mer (Debussy)|La Mer]]'', 1905]]

Hokusai had achievements in various fields as an artist. He made designs for book illustrations and woodblock prints, sketches, and painting for over 70 years.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hTxubg_aHb8C&q=hokusai+katsushika+family&pg=PA17|title=Art of Japan: Wood-block Color Prints|last=Finley|first=Carol|date=1998-01-01|publisher=Lerner Publications|isbn=978-0-8225-2077-1|language=en}}</ref> Hokusai was an early experimenter with western linear perspective among Japanese artists.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kadar |first1=Endre E. |last2=Effken |first2=Judith A. |title=Paintings as Architectural Space: "Guided Tours" by Cézanne and Hokusai |journal=Ecological Psychology |date=5 November 2008 |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=299–327 |doi=10.1080/10407410802421874|s2cid=143785505 }}</ref> Hokusai himself was influenced by [[Sesshū Tōyō]] and other styles of [[Chinese painting]].<ref name="csuchico"/> His influence stretches across the globe to his western contemporaries in nineteenth-century Europe with [[Japonism]], which started with a craze for collecting Japanese art, particularly ukiyo-e. Some of the first samples were to be seen in Paris, when in about 1856, the French printmaker, designer and colleague of many Impressionsist artists such as [[Édouard Manet]],<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last=Wilson-Bareau  |editor-first=Juliet |title=Manet by himself: Correspondence and conversation |publisher=Time Warner Books UK |year=2004 |isbn=0-316-72809-8 |edition=2nd |location=London |pages=24 |language=English}}</ref> [[Félix Bracquemond]] first came across a copy of a Hokusai sketchbook at the workshop of August Dalatre, his printer.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Thompson |first1=Sarah E. |title=Hokusai: Inspiration and Influence |date=2023 |publisher=MFA Boston |location=Boston, MA |isbn=978-0-87846-890-4 |page=112 |edition=1st}}</ref>

With the sketchbook as his influence Bracquemond designed the "Rousseau Service", an elegant set of dinnerware, on behalf of Francois-Eugene Rousseau, the owner of a glass and ceramics shop. Exhibited at the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1867, the Rousseau Service was a success both critically and commercially and was reissued in several editions over the years. The Rousseau Service featured images of birds and fish copied from the Japanese book illustrations and placed asymmetrically against a white background for a look that would have been very modern at that time.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=Sarah E. |title=Id. at 120}}</ref>

Hokusai also influenced the [[Impressionist|Impressionism]] movement, with themes echoing his work appearing in the work of [[Claude Monet]] and [[Pierre-Auguste Renoir]], as well as [[Art Nouveau]], or [[Jugendstil]] in Germany. His woodcuts were collected by many European artists, including [[Degas]], [[Gauguin]], [[Klimt]], [[Franz Marc]], [[August Macke]], [[Édouard Manet]], and [[van Gogh]].<ref name="Hokusai Retrospective" /> Degas said of him, "Hokusai is not just one artist among others in the Floating World. He is an island, a continent, a whole world in himself".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phaidon.com/agenda/art/articles/2017/may/10/how-after-death-hokusai-changed-art-history/|title=How, after death, Hokusai changed art history|publisher=Phaidon|date=10 May 2017|access-date=6 November 2020}}</ref> [[Hermann Obrist]]'s whiplash motif, or ''Peitschenhieb'', which came to exemplify the new movement, is visibly influenced by Hokusai's work.{{or?|date=August 2025}}

The French composer [[Claude Debussy]]'s tone poem [[La mer (Debussy)|La Mer]], which debuted in 1905, is believed to have been inspired by Hokusai's print ''The Great Wave.'' The composer had an impression of it hanging in his living room and specifically requested that it be used on the cover of the published score, which was widely distributed, and the music itself incorporated Japanese-inflected harmonies.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=Sarah E. |title=Hokusai: Inspiration and Influence |publisher=MFA Publications |year=2023 |isbn=9780878468904 |edition=1st |location=Boston, MA |pages=116 |language=English}}</ref>

Even after his death, exhibitions of his artworks continue to grow. In 2005, Tokyo National Museum held a Hokusai exhibition which had the largest number of visitors of any exhibit there that year.<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal|last=Brown|first=Kendall H.|date=2007-08-13|title=Hokusai and His Age: Ukiyo-e Painting, Printmaking and Book Illustration in Late Edo Japan (review)|journal=The Journal of Japanese Studies|language=en|volume=33|issue=2|pages=521–525|doi=10.1353/jjs.2007.0048|s2cid=143267375|issn=1549-4721}}</ref> Several paintings from the Tokyo exhibition were also exhibited in the United Kingdom. The British Museum held the first exhibition of Hokusai's later year artworks including ''{{'}}The Great Wave{{'}}'' in 2017.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|title=Hokusai: beyond the Great Wave|last=Carelli|first=Francesco|journal = London Journal of Primary Care|volume = 10|issue = 4|pages = 128–129|date=2018|pmc = 6074688|pmid = 30083250|doi = 10.1080/17571472.2018.1486504}}</ref>

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 Mount Fuji, stopping at locations painted by Hokusai. A 2011 book on [[mindfulness]] closes with the poem "Hokusai Says" by Roger Keyes, preceded with the explanation that "[s]ometimes poetry captures the soul of an idea better than anything else".<ref>[[J. Mark G. Williams|Mark Williams]] and Danny Penman (2011). ''Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World'', pp. 249, 250–251. The poem is also at [https://gratefulness.org/resource/hokusai-says/ Hokusai Says – Gratefulness.org].</ref>

In the 1985 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', Richard Lane characterizes Hokusai as "since the later 19th century [having] impressed Western artists, critics and art lovers alike, more, possibly, than any other single Asian artist".<ref>[[Richard Douglas Lane|Lane, Richard]] (1985). "Hokusai", ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', v. 5, p. 973.</ref>

''{{'}}Store Selling Picture Books and Ukiyo-e{{'}}'' by Hokusai shows how [[ukiyo-e]] during the time was actually sold; it shows how these prints were sold at local shops, and ordinary people could buy ukiyo-e. Unusually in this image, Hokusai used a hand-colored approach instead of using several separated woodblocks.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hTxubg_aHb8C&q=hokusai+katsushika+family&pg=PA17|title = Art of Japan: Wood-block Color Prints|isbn = 978-0-8225-2077-1|last1 = Finley|first1 = Carol|date = January 1998| publisher=Lerner Publications }}</ref>

His youngest daughter Ei has her own manga and film called ''[[Miss Hokusai]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hoeij|first=Boyd van|date=2015-10-30|title='Miss Hokusai' ('Sarusuberi: Misu Hokusai'): Film Review|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/miss-hokusai-sarusuberi-misu-hokusai-830914/|access-date=2021-06-07|website=The Hollywood Reporter|language=en-US}}</ref>

A biographical film about the painter was released in Japan on 28 May 2021.<ref name="HOKUSAI IN CINEMAS MAY 28">{{Cite web|title=HOKUSAI IN CINEMAS MAY 28|url=https://hokusai2020.com/index_en.html|access-date=2021-06-07|website=hokusai2020.com}}</ref> It was premiered at the 33rd [[Tokyo International Film Festival]].<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Blair|first1=Patrick |last2=Brzeski |first2=Gavin J. |date=2020-11-02 |title=Tokyo Film Festival Opens With Light COVID-19 Restrictions, Support from Christopher Nolan |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/tokyo-film-festival-opens-with-light-covid-19-restrictions-support-from-christopher-nolan-4086490/ |access-date=2021-06-07 |work=The Hollywood Reporter }}</ref>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|refs=
<ref name="csuchico">Daniel Atkison and Leslie Stewart. "[http://www.csuchico.edu/art/contrapposto/contrapposto99/pages/essays/themefloating/hohusaimnt.html Life and Art of Katsushika Hokusai]" in ''From the Floating World: Part II: Japanese Relief Prints'', catalogue of an exhibition produced by [[California State University, Chico]]. Retrieved 9 July 2007; {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021108104201/http://www.csuchico.edu/art/contrapposto/contrapposto99/pages/essays/themefloating/hohusaimnt.html |date=8 November 2002 }}</ref>

<ref name="smith">Smith {{page needed|date=April 2012}}</ref>

<ref name="lane">{{cite book|last=Nagata|first=Seiji|title=Hokusai: Genius of the Japanese Ukiyo-e|publisher=Kodansha|location=Tokyo|year=1999|isbn=4770024797}}{{page needed|date=April 2012}}</ref>

<ref name="weston116">Weston, p. 116</ref>

<ref name="nagata">Nagata {{page needed|date=April 2012}}</ref>

<ref name="weston">Weston, pp. 116–117</ref>

<ref name="weston117">Weston, p. 117</ref>

<ref name="gvjh.org">[http://www.gvjh.org/~artisland/2007_artist_web/huynh_hokusai/Hokusai_Pages/Biography%20and%20Facts%20on%20Hokusai.html ''Hokusai Heaven'' retrieved 27 March 2009] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090903122252/http://www.gvjh.org/~artisland/2007_artist_web/huynh_hokusai/Hokusai_Pages/Biography%20and%20Facts%20on%20Hokusai.html |date=3 September 2009 }}</ref>

<ref name="weston1">Weston, pp. 117–118</ref>

<ref name="weston118">Weston, p. 118</ref>

<ref name="weston2">Weston, pp. 118–119</ref>

<ref name="weston119">Weston, p. 119</ref>

<ref name="Hokusai Retrospective">{{cite journal|last=Rhodes|first=David|title=Hokusai Retrospective|journal=The Brooklyn Rail|date=November 2011|url=http://brooklynrail.org/2011/11/artseen/hokusai-retrospective}}</ref>
}}

== General and cited references ==
* {{cite book|title=Hokusai|first=Gian Carlo|last=Calza|publisher=Phaidon|year=2003|isbn=978-0-7148-4457-2}}
* Clark, Timothy ed. (2017). ''Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave''. London: Thames & Hudson/The British Museum. {{ISBN|978-0-50009-406-8}}
* [[Richard Douglas Lane|Lane, Richard]] (1978). ''Images from the Floating World: The Japanese Print''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-211447-1}}; {{oclc|5246796}}.
* Nagata, Seiji (1995). ''Hokusai: Genius of the Japanese Ukiyo-e''. Tokyo: Kodansha International. {{isbn|978-4-770-01928-8}}
* Ray, Deborah Kogan (2001). ''Hokusai: The Man Who Painted a Mountain''. New York: Frances Foster Books. {{ISBN|978-0-374-33263-1}}.
* Smith, Henry D. II (1988). ''Hokusai: One Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji''. New York: George Braziller, Inc., Publishers. {{ISBN|978-0-8076-1195-1}}.
* Weston, Mark (1999). ''Giants of Japan: The Lives of Japan's Most Influential Men and Women''. New York: Kodansha International. {{ISBN|978-1-56836-286-1}}.

==Further reading==
===General biography===
* Bowie, Theodore (1964). ''The Drawings of Hokusai.'' Indiana University Press, Bloomington.
* Sadao Kikuchi (1970), ''Hokusai'' (Osaka: Hoikusha). 
* Forrer, Matthi (1988). ''Hokusai'' Rizzoli, New York. {{ISBN|978-0-8478-0989-9}}.
* Forrer, Matthi; van Gulik, Willem R., and Kaempfer, Heinz M. (1982). ''Hokusai and His School: Paintings, Drawings and Illustrated Books.'' Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem. {{ISBN|978-90-70216-02-3}}
* Hillier, Jack (1955). ''Hokusai: Paintings, Drawings and Woodcuts.'' Phaidon, London.
* Hillier, Jack (1980). ''Art of Hokusai in Book Illustration.'' Sotheby Publications, London. {{ISBN|978-0-520-04137-0}}.
* [[Richard Douglas Lane|Lane, Richard]] (1989). ''Hokusai: Life and Work.'' E.P. Dutton. {{ISBN|978-0-525-24455-4}}.
* 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===
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.
* [[James A. Michener|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|978-0-8076-1213-2}}.
* Narazaki, Muneshige (1968). Trans. Bester, John. ''Masterworks of Ukiyo-E: Hokusai – The Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji''. Kodansha, Tokyo.
* Balcou, Amelie (2019). "Hokusai: Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji". Prestel. {{ISBN|978-3791386072}}. 
* Marks, Andreas (2021). "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji". Taschen, New York. {{ISBN|978-3836575720}}.
* Price, Jonathan Reeve (2020). "Viewing Hokusai Viewing Mount Fuji". Communication Circle, Albuquerque, New Mexico. {{ISBN|978-0-9719954-7-5}}.
*  Thompson, Sarah (2019). "Hokusai's Landscapes: The Complete Series". MFA Publications, Boston. {{ISBN|978-0878468669}}.
* Zelazny, Roger (2000). "24 Views of Mount Fuji". In "Cthulu 2000: Stories" (1999). Arkham House, Sauk City, WI. {{ISBN|978-0345422033}}

===Art monographs===
Monographs dedicated to Hokusai art works:
* Goncourt, Edmond de (2014). ''Essential Hokusai.'' Bournemouth, Parkstone International. {{ISBN|978-1-78310-128-3}}.
* Goncourt, Edmond de (2014). ''Hokusai Mega Square.'' Bournemouth, Parkstone International. {{ISBN|978-1-78310-566-3}}.
* Andreas Marks: ''Hokusai (XXL)''. [[Taschen|TASCHEN]], Cologne 2024, ISBN 978-3-8365-9188-1.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Katsushika Hokusai}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* [https://hokusai-kan.com/en/ The Hokusai-kan Museum (Obuse, Japan)]
* [http://hokusai.us.com/home_en Hokusai website]
* {{FadedPage|id=Hokusai (Katsushika Hokusai)|name=Hokusai|author=yes}}

===Prints===
* [http://www.hokusai-katsushika.org/ Hokusai complete works]
* [http://ukiyo-e.org/artist/katsushika-hokusai Ukiyo-e Prints by Katsushika Hokusai]
* [http://www.mfa.org/search?search_api_views_fulltext=hokusai Hokusai prints at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]
* [http://digitalmuseum.rekibun.or.jp/app/selected/edo-tokyo?no=200709 Hokusai's works at Tokyo Digital Museum] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081003124459/http://digitalmuseum.rekibun.or.jp/app/selected/edo-tokyo?no=200709 |date=3 October 2008 }}
* [https://exchange.umma.umich.edu/quick_search/query?utf8=true&q=artist:%22Katsushika%20Hokusai%22 Hokusai's works at the University of Michigan Museum of Art] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111134615/https://exchange.umma.umich.edu/quick_search/query?utf8=true&q=artist:%22Katsushika%20Hokusai%22 |date=11 November 2023 }}
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb456336304 Hokusai works at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France (Paris)]

===Biographies===
* [https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/term_details.aspx?bioId=147739 Biography of Katsushika Hokusai, British Museum]

{{Hokusai}}
{{Ukiyo-e artists}}
{{Authority control (arts)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hokusai}}
[[Category:Hokusai| ]]
[[Category:1760 births]]
[[Category:1849 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century Japanese painters]]
[[Category:19th-century Japanese painters]]
[[Category:Artists from Tokyo]]
[[Category:Japanese botanical illustrators]]
[[Category:Buddhist artists]]
[[Category:Color engravers]]
[[Category:Japanese wood engravers]]
[[Category:18th-century Japanese illustrators]]
[[Category:19th-century Japanese illustrators]]
[[Category:Japanese landscape painters]]
[[Category:Japanese portrait painters]]
[[Category:Katsukawa school]]
[[Category:People from Katsushika]]
[[Category:Shunga by artist]]
[[Category:Japanese male painters]]
[[Category:18th-century male artists]]
[[Category:19th-century male artists]]
[[Category:18th-century Japanese engravers]]
[[Category:19th-century Japanese engravers]]