Katsushika Hokusai: Japanese Artist

Katsushika Hokusai was a Japanese painter who used the ukiyo-e style of painting. He was considered to be the expert on Chinese art in Japan. He was also a printmaker during the Edo period. He was born in what in now known as Tokyo in 1760. He was born to an artisan family, his father being believed to be Nakajima Ise, the mirror maker for the shogun. He may have learned some of his technique from his father, who had paintings and designs on the mirrors he made. It is believed that his mother was of lower status than his father, so she was left unknown. Hokusai, like many other Japanese artists of the time, went by many different names. But his number of names were far greater than that of other artists, exceeding 30 in his lifetime. His father …show more content…
He also stopped painting the famous people like his master did and moved on to things like landscapes and daily life. He later tried to move further than portrait art, moving farther and farther from his original style. As he was changing his style from what he used to know, he released two collections of landscapes, Famous Sights of the Eastern Capital and Eight Views of Edo. During this time, he became popular enough to attract students and ended with about 50 students for his lifetime. Most of his famous art was produced after the age of 60. He is most famous for his landscapes of Mount Fuji. His style of painting and the objects he chose to paint were almost all related to his religious beliefs. Mount Fuji is a perfect example of this. It it supposed to be related to eternal life. His name can also be traced back to the North Star, which is often associated with one of the goddesses in their beliefs. Many also associate his largest publication, the 15-volume Hokusai Manga, with modern manga. This, however, is not related to modern manga because his works in the volumes seemed to have no order and often featured simple things like animals and