Hokusai

One of the great artists from the Edo Period was Hokusai. He was born in either October or November of 1760. His birth name was Tokitarō. He changed his name many times throughout his life, adding up to 30, but his most known work is from the time that he was Hokusai. He started making artworks at the age of six. However his greatest works were created when he was over the age of 60. His father was a  His works were mostly sketches and are mostly thought to be the precedent to modern Manga. Manga is a comic book style art that is mainly story based. However Hokusai's sketches did not have a storyline and was mostly just people or animals. his greatest work is Hokusai's Manga, which is a book of nearly 4,000 sketches. One of the sketches that is well known today is Mount Fuji Seen Below a Wave at Kanagawa.
 
In this artwork you can see Mount Fuji in the background with a wave in the foreground. Hokusai was known for sketching many images of Mount Fuji. Typically the Japanese artists would put writing somewhere on their artwork describing what is happening in the picture. His depiction of Mount Fuji is rooted in his beliefs. He was a Buddhist and that is why he chose his name, his name is short for  Hokushinsai meaning "North Star Studio."

Much of the inspiration the Hokusai received and that was incorporated into his work was from the daily life, tradition and legends of the Japanese people. His works that showed Mount Fuji were based on the legend that Mount Fuji was a sign of immortality. Some of his works were wood-block prints, silkscreens, and landscapes. Hokusai was sometimes known as the master of the wood-block printing style known as "Ukyio-e." The artworks that used these styles were mostly created in the years between 1830 and 1840. His later works included large, broken strokes and contained a somber mood that was created with the color method that was used in his works. In Kintaro and the Wild Animals you can see the style of humans in art that might have influenced later Manga style of showing people.

The many art pieces that Hokusai has often use very little color, this piece mainly uses gold or yellow, black, and a little bit of green. The wave artwork shown above mainly uses blue, white, and hints of gold. This work shows a person who is grabbing onto the wild animals and this could be to show the dominance over nature. Hokusai was a great Japanese artist and his art has left its mark on our world today. Remnants of his art can be found in many modern Japanese parts of culture such as Manga and Anime. Both of these contain aspects of Hokusai's art because Hokusai was one of the first people to create that style of artworks and other types of that art were built off of Hokusai's original style.
Websites used:
http://www.katsushikahokusai.org/home-3-24-1-0.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/hokusai/
http://www.hokusaiexposed.com/