Japanese Mastersh o k u s a i a n d h i r o s h i g e

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Japanese Mastersh o k u s a i a n d h i r o s h i g e

J a m e s u n d e r h i l l

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Copyright © 2011 Piccadilly Books, Inc.

ISBN: 978-1-937206-02-4

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ContentstHE FLOAtINg WORLD 7

Hokusai 17

tHIRtY-SIx VIEWS OF Mt. FUjI 37

Hiroshige 85

100 VIEWS OF EDO 103

FORMAtS OF jAPANESE PRINtS 156

SELECt BIBLIOgRAPHY 157

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utagawa hiroshige. Nihonbashi Tōri-itchōme ryakuzu (View of First Street, Nihonbashi) from the series Meisho Edo hyakkei (One Hundred Famous Views of Edo). Ōban, 1857. Nihonbashi was the commercial center of Edo (as it is now in present-day Tokyo). The bridge over the Nihonbashi River was the major outlet leading onto the Tōkaidō Road to Kyoto. ©ViSipix.cOm

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l n 1603, after a century of continual warfare between japan’s great feudal lords, Ieyasu

tokugawa was appointed shogun by the emperor. The sixteenth century in japan is called the

Sengoku Jidai, the Age of the Country at War. Ieyasu’s accession to the shogunate established a

dynasty that brought stability to the country and would last 250 years. Thirteen years later at the

siege of Osaka, he defeated his last significant rivals; with this he became the supreme ruler of japan.

Although the emperor invested the shogun, by this time in japan’s history his role had been

reduced to a strictly ceremonial one. Revered by the entire japanese people, he was, nonetheless,

merely a figurehead. The tokugawa shogun ratified this state of affairs by moving the center of

power from Kyoto, which hosted the imperial court, to the new settlement of Edo (present-day

tokyo). Edo had begun as a military encampment and grew to become the administrative and

economic capital of japan. By 1800 it was home to over one million people.

One of the early challenges that the new ruling dynasty had to face was the gradually

increasing inroads made by European powers, looking for mercantile opportunities and Christian

converts. The first Europeans to arrive in japan were Portuguese traders from Macao and goa.

Hard on their heels came the first jesuit missionaries. The story of their relations with the

japanese people and their rulers is a complicated one; in some places they were cordially accepted,

in others cruelly persecuted. The religious message they brought was difficult for the japanese to

understand —japanese lacked a word for Supreme Being—and Christian notions of good and evil

did not resonate with an ethos whose dominant dichotomy was between loyalty and treachery.

Nonetheless, the early preachers achieved some success, at first with the peasantry, who were

harshly oppressed, and, in time, even attracted some of the lesser aristocracy. At the height of

their influence the jesuits found a ready audience with the daimyo Nobunaga, the leading military

figure in the generation preceding Ieyasu.

The Floating World

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Ieyasu and his successors rightly realized that the European missionaries were merely the

vanguard of their patrons’ mercantile and colonial ambitions. The benefits of foreign trade were

indisputable, but the dangers were also very real. As Spanish, Dutch and English representatives

followed the Portuguese into this new market, their rivalries with one another threatened to embroil

japanese aristocratic houses. The tokugawa dynasty first and foremost strove to maintain its hard-won

dominance and feared that the various European factions might seek to co-opt one or more of its

erstwhile rivals. This prompted intensified hostility toward foreigners and foreign influence, culmi-

nating in their complete expulsion. (The only exception was a small Dutch trading post on Nagasaki,

in which the merchants lived in a kind of quarantine.) In 1637 the government issued a proclamation

prohibiting any japanese from leaving japan and those who had left from ever returning. With this

began a period of isolation and cultural inwardness that was to last for more than two centuries.

This period was also one of increasing prosperity and the emergence of an urbanized middle

class (called chōnin). One of Ieyasu’s decrees required all of the great feudal lords to spend a good

part of the year in attendance on the shogun in Edo. This allowed the centralized authority to keep

utagawa hiroshige. Kanbara yoru no yuki from the series Tōkaidō gojūsantsugi no uchi (Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō Road). Ōban, between 1833 and 1836. Undoubtedly one of Hiroshige’s masterpieces. The heavy snowfall muffles the scene and the artist’s palette, only the human figures display touches of color. The artist uses the technique bokashi, in which ink was wiped off the block resulting in the gradation in the color of the sky from top to bottom.

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an eye on potential rivals and militated against the establishment of other centers of power. It had

the additional effect of greatly enriching the new administrative capital. As the great lords made

their way to the shogun, their attendants, along with artisans, merchants and entertainers, followed

them. New highways were built and way stations sprang up, where travelers could find rest, food

and company and the opportunity for amorous encounters. These country inns and settlements

figure prominently in the art of both Hokusai and Hiroshige, both of whose work include series

showing the stations on the tōkaidō Road, the main highway from Kyoto to Edo. (today the

bullet train from tokyo to Kyoto, called the Tōkaidō Shinkasen, roughly follows the old tōkaidō

Road. The journey that once required twenty days can now be completed in two and a half hours.)

It was out of this climate of increasing mercantile prestige, characterized by wealth and

urbanity, that ukiyo, the Floating World, arose. At first confined to the Yoshiwara quarter of Edo,

a kind of red light district frequented by courtesans, actors, the sons of prosperous merchants and

idle samurai, it soon spread to Kyoto and Osaka. Depictions of this new engagingly seductive life-

style came to be known as ukiyo-e, paintings of the Floating World. Fortunately, the fledgling art

form found a genius able to realize its possibilities and expand its boundaries. This was Hishikawa

Moronobu, considered by some to be the founder of ukiyo-e. He is best known for his erotic

katsushika hokusai. Tōkaidō Yoshida (Yoshida on the Tōkaidō) from the series Fugaku sanjū rokkei (Thirty-six Views of mt. Fuji). Ōban, between 1829 and 1833. Yoshida was a castle town on the Tōkaidō Road that offered a fine vantage of mt. Fuji. A sign reads “Fuji-Viewing teahouse.” Here travelers could rest and enjoy the scenery.

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prints (shunga, that is “spring pictures”), in which his powerful use of line provided a basis for

subsequent developments in the printmaker’s art.. He was also a masterful illustrator. His career

spanned most of the second half of the seventeenth century and established ukiyo-e as a vibrant

mode of portraying the newly emerging urban culture.

The days of the samurai, the feudal knights, were drawing to close, in a reaction to the up -

heavals of japan’s medieval period. The new merchant class aspired to its own virtues of industry and

steadiness, offset by a growing appetite for diversion and sexual entertainment. Actors and courtesans

became celebrities, a new aristocracy of sophisticated pleasure. to understand the japanese and

their art, one must realize that their attitude toward sex is relatively untrammeled by the strictures

of Western religions. to the japanese way of thinking Christianity offered an extremely unhealthy

attitude toward sex. The shunga tradition can only be appreciated if one keeps this in mind.

Originally the term ukiyo was a disparaging one suggesting the Buddhist conception that

the sensory world was ephemeral, lacking in real value. In time this negative connotation gave

kikukawa eizan. Shin yoshiwara Ōgiya zashiki no zu (View of Room in the Ogi House of New Yoshiwara). Triptych, ōban, c. 1809. The pleasure houses in the Yoshiwara district catered to samurai and merchants and followed elaborate rules of etiquette that included rankings of courtesans.

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way to a more appreciative stance, but it was never wholly effaced. This resulted in the melancholy

aspect that seems to underlie the work of the greatest ukiyo-e masters. In her introduction to

Hiroshige: Birds and Flowers, Cynthea Bogel quotes the opening lines of a popular japanese novel

of the seventeenth century, Tales of the Floating World by Asai Ryōi, that eloquently describes the

essential quality of the Floating World.

We live only for the moment, turning our thoughts to the moon, the snow, the cherry blossoms, and maple leaves: singing, drinking, and diverting ourselves just in floating, floating, unmoved by the prospect of imminent poverty, resisting sinking spirits, we are buoyant, like a gourd floating along with the river: this is the floating world.

As aristocratic privilege gave way to a wider diffusion of wealth, artists found new patrons

among the mercantile class. This audience was less involved with the poetic and mythological

themes that dominated the art of earlier periods. They favored art that turned its focus to the

attractions of the world around them. Kabuki dancers and actors and beautifully dressed courte-

sans replaced the depictions of samurai warfare and Chinese legends.

utagawa kuniyasu. Jūichidanme (Act Eleven of the Chūshingura) from the series Chūshingura jūichidan tsuzuki (The Eleven Acts of chūshingura). chūban, between 1815 and 1818. This print shows the final act of the Chūshingura in which three ronin samurai attack the entrance to moronō’s home to take revenge for the death of their master.

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Furthering these trends was the spread of literacy. In feudal japan education was reserved

for samurai and monks. The growing importance of commerce meant that merchants had to

acquire basic reading and mathematical skills. But this process once begun was not easily checked.

The eighteenth century witnessed the birth of a new breed of intellectuals, many from the bour-

geoisie, who produced important works in science, music and philosophy. The last proved the

most challenging to the existing power structure, questioning basic tenets of Confucianism that

provided divine sanction to the established order.

Another important result of the spread of literacy was the emergence of the popular novel.

This genre, called ukiyo-zōshi, celebrated and helped define the culture of the floating world. It

also fostered ukiyo-e, since the most popular novels were illustrated and thus furnished employ-

ment to many of the finest artists of the day.

g.B. Sanson in A Short Cultural History of Japan, captures the flavor of this new social order.

This is the world of fugitive pleasures, of theaters and restaurants, wrestling booths and houses of assignation, with their permanent population of actors, dancers, singers, story-tellers, jesters, courtesans, bath-girls and itinerant purveyors, among whom mingled the profligate sons of rich merchants, dissolute samurai and naughty apprentices.

torii kiyotsune. interior of Kabuki theater. 1765.The walkway, called the hanamichi, that extends into the theater at the left of the print was an innovation of the early eighteenth century. The artist, Kiyotsune, was a member of the Torii school, which had a virtual monopoly on the billboards, advertising and prints depicting kabuki performances.

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Bogel states the case differently, perceptively noting the dynamic relationship between

ukiyo-e and the society in which it flourished.

The ukiyo-e genre remained viable not because it depicted popular activities and figures, but because it participated in creating “the popular.” As “art” these prints offered images of the floating world, as “cultural products,” they also prefigured it.

The genroku period (1688-1704) witnessed the first full flowering of these social trends.

In this and the succeeding Hōei and Shōtoku periods (lasting until 1716), great ukiyo-e masters

produced some of their finest work. Their roster includes Masanobu, Kiyonobu and Kiyomasu,

the latter two members of the torii school, which specialized in depictions and promotions of the

kabuki theater, and the Kaigetsudo school, which set the standard for feminine beauty.

As the eighteenth century proceeded these trends continued. However, to pay for the

entertainments and luxury on offer

in the growing urban centers such

as Edo and Osaka, the aristocracy

found itself going ever more deeply

in debt to the mercantile class. The

whole economic edifice rested upon

the productive labor of the peasantry,

which began to buckle under the

weight. Sansom observes: “Peasants

were often compared to seeds, like

sesame, which were pressed for their

oil, because ‘the harder you press, the

more you squeeze out.’ ” The begin-

nings of a money economy, with

currency replacing rice as the primary

medium of exchange, served to

exacerbate the situation. Meanwhile

the shogunate alternated between

repression and laxity, depending on

the character of the ruler.

katsushika hokusai. Mother and Daughter on an Outing from the series Fūryū nakute nanakuse (Seven Fashionable Bad Habits). Ōban, 1797–1798.The two women, identified as mother and daughter, are the embodiment of elegance and point to the influence of Utamaro on Hokusai’s early work . ©ViSipix.cOm

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The eighth tokugawa shogun, Yoshimune, whose accession

signaled the commencement of the Kyōhō period (1716–1736),

found the country teetering on bankruptcy. His solution was

to embark upon an austerity program that would recapture

the purity and spirit of self-sacrifice of an idealized past. His

condemnation of pleasure seeking was primarily directed to

the chōnin. Extravagant displays of all kind were banned. One

edict forbade the publication of anything new or colorful. And

even though the chōnin regularly flouted the government’s

dictates, these had a chilling effect on the easygoing lifestyle of

the preceding eras and the artistic production that celebrated it.

A clear demarcation line in the development of ukiyo-e

and japanese art overall occurred in the mid 1760s. In the space

of two years, color printing underwent a radical transformation.

In the first century of ukiyo-e, monochrome prints were the

general rule, sometimes enhanced by broad hand-colored

strokes of orange, green or yellow. In the early eighteenth

century printers began to experiment with color. A printer

would make a key block from an artist’s design and then

supply the printer with copies of the print on which he would specify the placement of color.

One proof sheet was reserved for each color, but a very limited number of colors were used. The

most impressive early results were achieved by Masanobu, who published his own prints and

succeeded in solving registration problems that had detracted from the quality of the impressions.

Rose colored prints (benizuri-e) and lacquer prints (urushi-e), in which glue (and sometimes

metallic flakes) was added for a lustrous effect, came into fashion. But it required the fortunate

combination of artistic genius and a circle of wealthy patrons to achieve the breakthrough in the

use of color that would permit the fullest flowering of ukiyo-e.

The artist who brought about this revolution was Suzuki Harunobu. Literary circles

consisting of wealthy merchants and samurai devoted to poetry began to engage in publishing

elaborate greeting cards to be circulated at New Year. Haronobu’s refined style was a perfect

match for this kind of decorous art, and he soon became the leading exponent of this genre. No

expense was spared. More costly woods were used for the blocks and printers used as many blocks

suzuki harunobu. Secchū aiaigasa (Lovers under Umbrella in the Snow). chūban, c. 1768. One of Harunobu’s most famous prints.

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as they needed to arrive at the desired colors. This new kind of

print was termed nishiki-e (brocade print).

One of Harunobu’s most important contributions was

to extend the artist’s gaze to facets of everyday life that had

been previously neglected. As Richard Lane notes in the semi-

nal work, Images from the Floating World: “Thus ukiyo-e came

to deal more and more realistically with the everyday world,

rather than simply the pleasure quarter and the theater, which

were almost a world of make-believe.”

Kabuki had suffered under the repressive measures of

the early eighteenth century and, like ukiyo-e, experienced

a revival in the 1760s. The next decades saw the golden age

of Kabuki theater. Its premier chronicler was Katsukawa

Shunshō, under whose tutelage Hokusai was to begin his

career. Shunshō brought an immediacy to his prints that had

been lacking in the earlier torii masters. He portrayed in vivid

style the reigning stars of the Kabuki stage. This, combined

with his powerful coloration, earned him the public’s accolades.

The late eighteenth century saw two further develop-

ments in ukiyo-e. The first was in landscape painting and prints. Though one finds occasional

landscapes as early as the perspective prints of Moronobu, this was never a primary area of inter-

est for ukiyo-e artists. The pioneer landscapist was Utagawa toyoharu. His contribution was to

fully incorporate Western ideas of perspective in japanese art and to place the human figure in

the landscape. This innovation was an essential stepping stone to the fully mature work of both

Hokusai and Hiroshige.

The other major development was in the area of figure studies. One could say that the 1790s

belonged to Kitagawa Utamaro. Utamaro’s elegant courtesans essentially defined the japanese

ideal of feminine beauty. Their subtly elongated forms are immediately identifiable, and

Utamaro’s delicate psychological portrayals remain unsurpassed in japanese art and rival those

of the greatest Western artists. Utamaro’s prints represent a high water mark in the ukiyo-e

tradition. His great successors, Hokusai and Hiroshige, found other arena in which to display

their creative powers.

kitagawa utamaro. Uzuki no hototogisu. Ōban, c.1794.The print shows two women looking up at a cuckoo. Utamaro’s idealized women shaped the Japanese conception of feminine beauty.

Hokusai

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From the age of five I have had a mania for

sketching the forms of things. From about the age of fifty I

produced a number of designs, yet of all I drew prior to the

age of seventy there is truly nothing of any great note. At the

age of seventy-two I finally apprehended something of the true

quality of birds, animals, insects, fish and of the vital nature of

grasses and trees. Therefore, at eighty I shall have made some

progress, at ninety I shall have penetrated even further the

deeper meaning of things, at one hundred I shall have become

truly marvelous, and at one hundred and ten, each dot, each line

shall surely possess a life of its own. I only beg that gentlemen

of sufficiently long life take care to note the truth of my words.

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Gokuin Sen’emon to okuri no onna (Gokuin Sen’emon) from the series Karigane gonin otoko (Five men of Karigane). Surimono, c. 1801. Two actors in a kabuki play, one as a woman with a paper lantern standing next to Gokuin Sen’emon, one of the “Five chivalrous men,” a gang of outlaws who were executed in 1702. Their exploits provided the basis for many Kabuki plays. Over time they became identified as folk heroes.

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For a Western audience the name Hokusai is practically synonymous with ukiyo-e

and the japanese print tradition. His best-known works, such as Under the Wave at

Kanagawa from his series Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji, have become cultural icons. An astonish-

ingly prolific artist, his career spanned six decades. In the dictionary of ukiyo-e included in

Images from the Floating World, the author Richard Lane attributes to Hokusai 141 series of

prints, 264 illustrated books, 16 albums of erotic art and an uncounted number of sketches and

paintings. When one considers that many of his series comprise numerous works (e.g. The Fifty-

three Stations of the Tōkaidō, Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji, and his last major undertaking, One

Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji), the sheer volume of his creative output seems staggering indeed.

Over the course of his career Hokusai signed his works with many different pen names.

This was a common practice among japanese artists, but none come even close to Hokusai.

(Lane lists 32 principal names.) He would assume one name for a period of time and then

abandon it and assume a new one. In some cases the assumption of a new name announced

a new departure in his career. As such, his signatures have proved very useful in developing a

chronology of his work. He used the name Hokusai from 1797 until 1818. He added the name

Katsushika in 1805, which was to become the name of the school he founded. It is under this

name, Katsushika Hokusai, that he is generally known.

Hokusai was born in 1760 in the Honjo quarter on the outskirts of Edo. He displayed

an interest in drawing and the fine arts as a young boy. He is recorded as being part of the

household of a well-to-do artisan family of Nakajima but was never made an heir, which sug-

gests that he may have been the son of a concubine.

At the age of 18 he became a pupil of Katsukawa Shunshō, whose studio, as we have seen,

specialized in portraits of the stars of Kabuki theater. Shunshō was one of the most celebrated

artists of his day. Hokusai worked in relative obscurity for much of the 1780s, collaborating on

the theatrical prints that were the bread and butter of Shunshō’s studio. But even at this early

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stage of his career he was looking for

other avenues of expression, turning

his hand to a wide variety of subjects:

sumo wrestlers, picturesque views

of Edo and works in the Chinese

manner. In 1791 he received his first

independent commission and rather

abruptly abandoned the genre of

theatrical portraiture.

Hokusai soon found fairly

steady employment as a book illus-

trator. This was a time when the

literary appetites of a growing middle

class led to a rapid growth in the

book publishing industry. There was

a vogue for novels, light semi-comic

fiction that sometimes fell afoul with

the censors for its veiled criticism of

the established powers. Illustrations

were an integral part of the stories,

much like the graphic novels of our day. Hokusai wrote a few of these himself under different

names, though the bulk of his efforts were strictly as illustrator.

In 1792 Hokusai formally withdrew from Shunshō’s studio, an event that coincided with

the death of the master. Over the next two years he studied with different teachers but did not

form a close allegiance to any of them. This was a transitional period for the young artist. At

around this time his wife died, and he was left to care for a young son and two daughters.

It did not take long, however, for Hokusai to become a well known artist. He was able

to take advantage of improvements in the process of color printing that permitted the use of

a much wider range of colors than had been seen before, as witnessed in the work of his older

contemporaries, such as Masanobu and Utamaro. By the late 1790s Hokusai was contributing

illustrations to collections of kyōka, a verse form then in vogue. He also began receiving orders for

surimono. In his study of the subject Roger Keyes succinctly describes the term:

Matsukaze. Surinomo with poetry. c. 1800.matsukaze is the name of the heroine of a famous nō play of the same name. She and her sister murasame are spirits who linger on earth mourning a lost love. ©ViSipix.cOm

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Surimono are a type of privately published woodblock print, usually colored, that was especially popular in Japan during the first third of the nineteenth century. Some suri-mono were distributed as announcements of musical performances or to commemorate personal events. Most, however, were commissioned by poets as gifts for their friends to celebrate the return of spring and the renewal of life and human activity at the beginning of the year.

His commissions for these costly works are clear indications of his growing reputation.

Other characteristic works of this period were paintings on silk and paper of courtesans. As

we have seen, courtesan portraits were a favorite subject for ukiyo-e artists. Hokusai’s works could

not rival the exquisite beauty of Utamaro’s women, but they are remarkable character studies and

bear the hallmarks of his emerging genius. His depictions show his restless experimentation with

new styles. In addition to meticulously detailed portraits that vividly render the subtlety of skin

tones and the elaborately decorated kimonos, his gouache portraits on paper have an economy of

line that seems to convey fleeting moments in the lives of these women.

Three women bearing the attributes of the traditional Sambasō dance (bells, fan and hat). Triptych, painted on paper, c. 1800.The Sambasō dance was a regular part of nō and then kabuki theater. Originally performed to ensure good harvests, it came to augur general good fortune and was incorpoarted into the geisha’s repertoire. ©ViSipix.cOm

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He also had the opportunity to study with takei Kōkan, a pioneer in bringing Western

ideas of art to the japanese elite, as well as availing himself of the advances made by toyoharu.

Although japan still remained cut off from the rest of the world, some European art had made

its way through the Dutch settlement on Nagasaki. Prior to its exposure to Western painting

japanese artists used perspective in a contextual, rather than optical manner. Scroll painting,

which was by necessity vertically oriented and usually quite narrow, followed certain conventions

Date Yosaku Seki no Koman. chūban, c. 1798.Lovers Date Yosaku and Seki no Koman seated on a teahouse bench from a series depicting famous loving couples

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whereby forms at the bottom of the scroll were considered foreground, and objects at its top

were seen as farther away. Often, much as in medieval European art, the size of a figure or object

depended upon its importance in the overall scheme of the work. Hokusai closely studied Western

perspective and learned the technique of copper engraving.

In 1797 he adopted the pen name, Hokusai, under which he was to become known, a step

that provides art historians with a convenient marker for his emergence as a mature artist with

his own inimitable style. He also remarried in the same year.

Much of Hokusai’s print work in the first decade of the nineteenth century was designed for

inexpensive mass-produced editions. It was not until some time later that the market for prints with

high production values was strong enough to encourage the publication of such expensive works. At

the other extreme were the privately printed surimono, for which Hokusai received many commissions.

It was at this time that Hokusai began to develop his skills as a landscapist. It was Hokusai’s

achievement to fully integrate the human figure into the landscape of which it was a part. This

innovation is one of Hokusai’s most important contributions to japanese art. It is hard to imagine

Hiroshige’s prints without the groundbreaking work of Hokusai. A fine example of his early land-

scape work can be seen in his album Ehon Sumidagawa ryōgan ichiran (Views of Both Banks of the

Sumida River).

From Sumidagawa ryōgan ichiran (Views of Both Banks of the Sumida River). published in 3 volumes, 1805. The Sumida River runs through Tokyo. in this early attempt at depicting figures within a landscape, Hokusai is just beginning to adapt Western ideas of perspective to the conceptual framework of the Japanese print. ©ViSipix.cOm

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Karasaki no yau (Evening Rain at Karasaki). From the series Shinpan Ōmi hakkei (New Edition of the Eight Views of Lake Biwa). chūban, c. 1804. This beautiful lake figures in many Japanese prints and had well-known literary and legendary associations.

An impetus for his concentration on landscapes was the publication in 1802 of a wildly

success ful novel, Tōkaidōchū Hizakuruige, a comic tale about two rascals and their adventures on

the tōkaidō road. This provided the inspiration for Hokusai’s Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō,

which appeared right about this time. A number of other series of landscapes followed, including

Eight Views of Lake Biwa and a number of western-styled landscapes.

In 1804 Hokusai gave a public performance before an astonished crowd of onlookers by draw-

ing a bust of Daruma, the first patriarch of Zen Buddhism, on a vast scale. Using a bamboo brush

dipped into a tub of ink, he covered

approximately 350 square yards of

paper and then hung it on display.

This gigantic work and the public

manner in which it was drawn only

furthered his reputation.

Book illustration took up

most of his time. During the cen-

tury’s first decade he collaborated

on over 75 books. He illustrated a

multi-volume edition of a Chinese

historical volume that eventually

required nearly 300 illustrations,

as well as fiction by celebrated

authors such as Bakin and Shigeru.

These assignments led Hokusai

back to Chinese models. His fig-

ures assumed greater strength, and

his compositions became more dramatic as he tackled mythological and legendary themes. A fine

example of this new direction is his series of prints that tell the story of Chushingura, the classic

japanese drama written by the great japanese playwright Chikamatsu. Chushingura relates the

exploits of the 47 ronin (masterless samurai) who avenge their dead lord.

Now in his fifties, Hokusai had become the most highly regarded japanese artist of his day.

He was respectfully addressed as the “Old Master.” Despite this he ex perienced some financial hard-

ships. His son died in 1812. Not only was this a great personal loss, but it was also a financial

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setback. taken under the wings of a wealthy family,

Hokusai’s son had been able to obtain a generous

stipend for this father. When this dried up, the art-

ist sought out students and patronage. He created a

number of sketchbooks (manga) as teaching devices.

They are filled with seemingly endless drawings of

persons and everyday objects. Of particular interest

is A Rapid Manual of Abbreviated Drawing, which

he wrote at this time. Here, Hokusai demonstrates

his whimsical sense of humor, poking fun at imagi-

nary rivals:

Liking the pretentious style of Hemamusho Nyūdō, the painter Yamamizu Tengu of Noshikoshiyama adopted the incomprehensible style of his drawings. Now I who have studied this style for almost a hundred years, and understanding it no more than he does, have found, nevertheless, that the following curious thing has arisen, in which I have observed that my people, my animals, my insects and fish seem to be fleeing from

the paper. Is this not really rather extraordinary? Fortunately the engraver Kokizumi, a skilled cutter of wood, took it upon himself with his finely sharp-ened knife, to cut the veins and nerves of the creatures I have drawn to deprive them of their freedom to get away. This little volume, I can affirm, will remain a precious gem for all posterity, and those people into whose hands it falls ought to be able to study it with that certainty.

Hokusai’s manga met with the great success. The

first volume went through six printings and nine more

volumes followed. Much of this decade was devoted to

the publication of these sketch books and the exploration

of different drawing techniques. One of his better known

Jūnidanme (Act Twelve of the Kanadehon chūshingura). Koban, between 1804 and 1812. This print shows the night attack on the villa and the capture of moronō (Kira). This scene is from act twelve of the play chūshingura (Revenge of the 47 Rōnin). c. 1804.

page from Hokusai’s first manga book, which was published in 1814. Filled with spontaneous and sometimes grotesque drawings with a decided humorous cast, the manga books functioned as practical handbooks for the study of art techniques and inspired the current comic book genre that bears their name.

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efforts was entitled Drawing with One Brushstroke, compositions in which the artist’s brush never

leaves the paper. His rendering of animals and birds display the absolute confidence of a master.

One’s sixtieth birthday is an especially important landmark in japan, since it marks the

completion of the zodiac cycle. On this occasion Hokusai assumed a new name, Iitsu, loosely

translated as “one year old again.” The name change ushered in a abrupt shift in direction. It

was under this name that he was to sign some of his most celebrated works. The artist evinced a

renewed interest in landscapes. It seems, at least to this viewer, that Hokusai’s voluminous corpus

of sketches and drawings, which had consumed most of his energy over the past decade, was a

profound exploration of the use of line and the act of drawing. Now he was ready to return to

more ambitious work, having fully incorporated the lessons he had mastered.

The masterpiece that ensued, Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji, is Hokusai’s best known work. As

Richard Lane observes: “This series was an entirely new revelation in ukiyo-e and included some

of the true masterworks of Hokusai’s career.” Among them he lists Fine Wind, Clear Morning,

Thunderstorm beneath Summit and Under the Wave at Kanagawa. One might also add Nakahara in

Ashikaga Gyōdōzan kumo no kakehashi (cloud Hanging Bridge at mt. Gyōdō, Ashikaga) from the series Shokoku meikyō kiran (Rare Views of Famous Japanese Bridges). Ōban, 1831–1832. The series consists of eleven prints. Some of these, including the bridge pictured here, are purely imaginary places. ©ViSipix.cOm

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Sagami Province, Ejiri in Suruga Province and Yoshida on the Tōkaidō, in which the artist explores

the dichotomy between people engaged in their everyday activities and the variegated natural

forms that provide the backdrop for their pursuits. Behind all of these different moods and condi-

tions is the unchanging presence of Fuji, the sacred mountain.

Early in the 1820s Hokusai had issued a number of lovely surimono, including an important

series of 36 prints to accompany poems inspired by seashells and some lovely still lifes and nature

studies. It is clear that he benefited from advances in printing processes, which greatly enhanced

the vibrancy of his palette. Yet his dissatisfaction with what he had been able to achieve continued

to drive his search for a definitive expression of his lifetime dedication to his art. Seen from this

vantage, his series Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji can be considered the culmination of his life’s work.

The first ten prints from the series appeared in 1830 and another ten the following year. By

1834 another twenty-six prints had been added, so that although entitled Thirty-six Views, the

series comprised forty-six prints in total. The ever-present Mt. Fuji connects each of these prints,

whether the mountain figures as the prime character in the print or as a seeming afterthought

located in an upper corner.

In 1828 Hokusai’s second wife died. Now 68 years old and in poor health, he gratefully ac-

cepted the return of his daughter O-Ei, who happened to be one of his best pupils, into his

Sōshū Nakahara (Nakahara in Sagami province) from the series Fugaku sanjū rokkei (Thirty-six Views of mt. Fuji). Ōban, between 1829 and 1833. Six travelers walk along a country road. One seems rapt in contemplation of mt. Fuji, the others are caught up in their own pursuits as if the mountain were not there. ©ViSipix.cOm

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Group of Roosters and Hens. Fan print. 1835. A clear display of technical virtuosity. The dynamic grouping of the birds creates a vortex of energy. The human expressions on the birds’ faces are of especial interest. ©ViSipix.cOm

Kikyō ni tombo (Bellflowers and Dragonfly) from a series of ten bird and flower prints. Ōban, c. 1832. Hokusai’s depictions of flowers are botanically accurate renderings. Such designs had a long history in Japanese and chinese art, but Hokusai was the first ukiyo-e artist to turn his hand to them. ©ViSipix.cOm

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household. She was to remain

with him until his death. A series

of five prints completed around

this time, displays a different side

of the artist. The series entitled

Hyaku monogatari (100 ghost

tales) shows a definite taste for

the macabre. A representative

work, The Ghost of O-Iwa, features

the heroine of a well-known

Kabuki drama. Murdered by her

husband (in some versions by

her husband's father), she returns

from the grave to avenge herself.

Another print represents the hid-

eous Warai Hannya, the female

demon of jealousy.

just as he was completing

his Thirty-six Views, a new talent

captured the attention of the japanese public. In 1833, Utagawa Hiroshige, who was half Hokusai’s

age, published his first major work: Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō. The “old master,” seeing his

preeminent position threatened, engaged in one last burst of creativity that resulted in Pictures of

One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets as Seen by the Nurse and illustrations for a three volume

work entitled, 100 Views of Mt. Fuji.

The publication of both works was interrupted in the middle of the decade by a financial

crisis in japan that forced Hokusai’s longtime publisher, Nishimuraya Yohachi, into bankruptcy.

Consequently, the publication of the third volume of 100 Views was postponed until 1840. This

work combines Hokusai’s illustrations with a collection of poems dedicated to the mountain. One

of the most famous of these is Dragon Ascending to Heaven past Mt. Fuji. The art historian, Matti

Forrer draws particular attention to the importance the figure of the dragon played throughout

Hokusai’s career. It is hard not to read its ascent of Fuji as in some way symbolizing the artist’s

own striving to reach the most exalted summit of his art.

Warai hannya (Laughing Demon of Jealousy) from the series Hyaku monogatari (One Hundred Ghost Tales). chūban, c. 1830. Hannya is the demon of female jealousy, a character from nō and kabuki theater. ©ViSipix.cOm

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One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets is the most famous of all japanese verse antholo-

gies. It was compiled by the poet Fujiwara no teika in the thirteenth century and became a literary

touchstone. In his study of Hokusai’s series of illustrations for this work, Peter Morse compares its

status in japanese culture to that of Aesop’s Fables in the West. It became the common property of

the japanese people. In approaching this revered literary monument, Hokusai makes use of a comic

persona, the nurse, a simple person far from the milieu of courtly refinement that gave rise to the

original poems. This allows Hokusai to reflect on the poetry from different vantages. Some of his

illustrations are fairly literal transcriptions of the poetry; some misread the originals for comic effect;

utagawa hiroshige. Hakone, kosui (Lake at Hakone) from the series Tōkaidō gojūsantsugi no uchi (Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō Road). Ōban, between 1833 and 1836. The way through the Hakone pass was the most difficult stretch of the Tōkaidō Road to traverse. in this print Hiroshige pays special attention to the various shapes of mountains. Walkers can be seen at the lower right struggling up the steep incline.

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some go much farther afield, having only the most tenuous connection to the original. Hokusai was

not able to fully complete the project. Only 27 subjects are illustrated in color; his drawings exist for

an additional 53 poems.

Hokusai executed very few prints after these heroic achievements. He devoted his last years

to painting. Forrer suggests that he had removed himself to the country to get away from his

creditors. He completed a number paintings on silk, meant for wealthy patrons, as well as some

on paper. Though they bear many of the characteristics of the Hokusai style, they also betray a

weakness in the aged artist’s brushstrokes. Hokusai died in 1849 at the age of ninety.

Dragon Ascending to Heaven past Mt. Fuji. painting on silk. 1849. The dragon was an auspicious emblem for Hokusai, considered a symbol of both water and sky, and a divine messenger. ©ViSipix.cOm

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Sarumaru Dayū. (The poet Sarumaru Dayū) ) from the series Hyakunin isshu uba ka etoki (One Hundred poems by One Hundred poets as Seen by the Nurse). Ōban, c. 1839. ©ViSipix.cOm

The poet Sarumaru is associated with the Emperor Genmyō, who reigned in the early eighth century. The poem reads as follows: In the mountain depths/Treading through the crimson leaves/Cries the wandering stag./When I hear the lonely cry/Sad,—how sad—the autumn is! The predominant red tone of the painting alludes to the crimson (maple) leaves in the second line of the poem. At the top left of the print the stag and his mate stand on a hill. Two women in the foreground turn to hear its lonely cry.

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Minamoto no Muneyuki Ason (The poet minamoto no muneyuki Ason) from the series Hyakunin isshu uba ka etoki (One Hundred poems by One Hundred poets as Seen by the Nurse). Ōban, c. 1839. ©ViSipix.cOm

One of the best-known prints in the series. The poem reads: Winter loneliness/In a mountain hamlet grows/Only deeper when/Guests are gone and leaves and grass/Withered are;—so runs my thought.

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Mikawa no Yatsuhashi no kozu (View of Yatsuhashi Bridge in mikawa province). Ōban c.1831 from Shokuku meikyō kiran (Rare Views of Famous Bridges in All the provinces). This bridge figures in a well-known medieval Japanese story, Tales of Ise.

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Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fujiat the age of 69 Hokusai embarked upon a project that would ensure his lasting fame. From

the beginning of the nineteenth century Hokusai and other ukiyo-e artists had begun to produce

landscape prints, but these were rather tentative efforts. The Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji was the

first major attempt to fully explore the possibilities of this genre.

Mt. Fuji is the highest mountain in japan. It stands alone, rising to a height of over 12,000

feet, about 60 miles from tokyo and can be seen from afar in every direction. It had long been

considered a sacred mountain, and Hokusai may well have been among its devotees. Its presence,

whether front and center as in in Rainstorm beneath the Summit or Fine Wind, Clear Morning or

as a seeming afterthought in prints such as Fields in Owari Province, suggests the fragility of the

human enterprise within the contours of the natural world.

Though advertised for a popular audience the prints were not inexpensive. A distinctive

factor is the artist’s use of Prussian blue, called berorin in japanese. Of the forty-six prints that

make up the series, all but ten are done in blue outline.

The plates are neither numbered nor dated. We have followed the order in “The Dictionary

of Ukiyo-e” in Lane’s Images from the Floating World.

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Kanagawa-oki namiura (Under the Wave at Kanagawa). ©ViSipix.cOm

This is the best-known and most dramatic composition in the series, contrasting the inordinate power of nature with the valiant attempt of the boatmen to keep their craft afloat.

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Gaifū kaisei (Fine Wind, clear morning; also known as Red Fuji). ©ViSipix.cOm

in dazzling contrast to the succeeding print, mt. Fuji is shown in a benign aspect. its red color was linked to dawn’s light.

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Sanka hakuu (Thunderstorm beneath Summit). ©ViSipix.cOm

considered one of the supreme expressions of Hokusai’s art, the viewer’s eye is drawn to the lightning flash on the mountain slope. With a few deft strokes the artist juxtaposes the storm’s intensity with the mountain’s summit that stands serene against the graduated blue of the sky, produced by the technique of bokashi.

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Fukagawa Mannenbashi shita (Below mannen Bridge at Fukagawa). ©ViSipix.cOm

We come down to earth with this print. The emphasis is on the harmonious forms of human industry.

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Tōto Sundai (Surugadai in Edo). ©ViSipix.cOm

This print explores a motif that will underlie most of the prints in this series: the relationship between human actors and the natural world. The rooftops of the two houses seen in the foreground seem to be as much a part of that world as the distant Fuji.

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Aoyama Enza no Matsu (The cushion pine at Aoyama). ©ViSipix.cOm

The spreading pine tree, called “the cushion pine” was located in the precincts of a Zen temple.

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Bushū Senju (Senju in musashi province). ©ViSipix.cOm

Laboring along a road in the northern suburbs of Edo, a horseman turns to look out at Fuji’s distant peak, allowing his aged mount a moment’s rest.

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Bushū Tamagawa (The Tama River in musashi province). ©ViSipix.cOm

The Tama is one of the major rivers of Tokyo (along with the Sumida). Setting aside the dictates of Western perspective, Hokusai chooses to emphasize the ferryman at the expense of the horse and rider at the bottom of the print.

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Kōshū Inume toge (inume pass in Kai province). ©ViSipix.cOm

inume pass is above the Tama River (shown on page 45). Here the heavily laden travelers seem indifferent to the imposing stature of the distant mountain.

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Bishū Fujimigahara (Fields in Owari province). ©ViSipix.cOm

This print clearly expresses Hokusai’s fondness for geometric forms. He slyly provides a glimpse of Fuji through the window-like opening of a huge tub that the cooper is constructing.

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Tōto Asakusa Honganji (Honganji Temple at Asakusa in Edo). ©ViSipix.cOm

The district of Asakusa was in the heart of Edo. The Honganji Temple was one of its most familiar landmarks. The print focuses on the elegant lines and design of its sharply pitched roof. One needs to look closely to see three workers completing somewhat precarious repairs.

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Buyō Tsukuda-jima (Tsukuda island in musashi province). ©ViSipix.cOm

Tsukuda island was located at the mouth of the Sumida River. The island itself seems dwarfed by the outsized fishing boats that occupy the foreground.

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Sōshū Umezawa-zai (Shichiri Beach in Suruga province). ©ViSipix.cOm

Shichiri Beach on the east side of Edo Bay was frequented by Edo’s inhabitants. in this print, however, the beach is deserted. We are looking out at the water and mt. Fuji from a promontory rising above the shore.