Katsushika Hokusai, the great wave and manga

• 05/08/2008 - 00:00
• Author: Yuki Sakuma
• Graphics & Artists
• 0 Comments
• Read in IT

Almost everyone knows Katsushika Hokusai ????, one of the most important and famous Japanese artists, or, probably, you know his most remarkable print: the "great wave". However, maybe only a few people know that Hokusai drew some "manga" too, although they're very different from the ones like "One Piece" and "Naruto", that we read today.

    

Katasushika Hokusai was born in Edo, that is to say, in Tokyo as it was called in the 1760s. When he was 18 he started working as a woodcutter in the Ukiyoe workshop of Katsugawa Shunsho, but he was soon sent away because he used to make critics about the master's artworks. He was obsessed with the perfection in drawing and his wish was to make a simple line itself symbol of perfection. He said:

Since the age of six I have had the habit of sketching forms of objects. Although from about fifty I have often published my pictorial works, before the seventieth year none were worthy. At seventy-three I learned a little about the real structure of animals, plants, birds, fishes and insects. Consequently when I am eighty I'll have made more progress. At ninety I'll have penetrated the mystery of things. At a hundred I shall have reached something marvellous, but when I am a hundred and ten everything I do, the smallest dot, will be alive. If Heaven had only granted me five more years, I could have become a real painter. If I can make a wish, I beg you sirs who will live a long life to confirm that my word is good.

The "Great wave" is not an unique artwork, since it is a polychrome xilography printed in many copies. The subject to print is carved in negative on wood block, one block for each colour to make kinda of a layered print until the wanted result is reached.

This xilography is a part of the Fugaku Sanjurokkei collection, the "36 views of Mount Fuji". Because of the big success they incurred in, 10 new views were added to the series, making a collection of 46 in total. The first one of these is the most known: the great wave, whose original title is Kanagawa oki namiura (the great wave next to Kanagawa Coast). The odd thing is that Mount Fuji is not visible from the Kanagawa Coast.

(first print from the Fugaku Sanjurokkei series)

The second print too is well known among the fans of the Ukiyoe style: it features the Red Fuji, on a clear and soft background representing floating morning clouds.

(second print from the Fugaku Sanjurokkei series)

Hokusai's "manga" have different meanings than the ones we read today; in fact, they're just a collection of sketches about different subjects: landscapes, supernatural, animals, flora and fauna. They don't tell a story, since they're not linked in any way. 15 books were published, and the last three are posthumous.

Each one of the "Hokusai manga" volumes was put in a Fukuro, an envelope, to protect it. Those envelopes were coloured and decorated too, so the audience was more tempted to buy them. They had the words 新版 "shinpan" and 新刻 "shinkoku" printed on, which mean "new" and were very useful to stimulate the wish of buying.

Examples of Fukuro from the first and second volumes of the Hokusai manga,

I'll put here some examples taken from the pages of the volumes Hokusai manga.

Pages of an Hokusai manga volume, featuring some animals.

Page of an Hokusai manga volume, featuring the exercises and practice of the official sport of Japan, the Sumo.

Without any doubt Hokusai is one of the most important exponents of ancient Japanese art, and his many masterpieces are appreciated all over the world. Masterpieces that are kept safe to be studied still today: they represent an important heritage from a man who used to call himself "Hokusai, the old fool of painting".