Why is Katsushika historically significant?

Answer 1

Katsushika Hokusai was born on October 31, 1760, in Honjo, Edo, of unknown parentage. While Hokusai moved at least ninety times throughout his lifetime, he never left this region. He was adopted as a child by the prestigious artisan-family Nakajima Ise, who made mirrors for the shogun.

As a teenager, Hokusai was a delivery boy for a booklending shop and also apprenticed to a woodblock carver. At the age of eighteen, Hokusai began serious training in print design under Katsukawa Shunsho (1726-1792), an eminent designer in Kabuki actor and theater prints. Under the name Shunsho, Hokusai illustrated storybooks and created prints depicting beautiful women. After his teacher's death in 1793, Hokusai entered a period of wandering, searching for different styles and themes in association with artists outside the Katsukawa School.

Hokusai changed his artistic name at least twenty times. In 1797, the artist began using the name Hokusai. Frequently, he combined it with others, creating a variety of names, such as Sori arateme Hokusai ("Hokusai changed from Sori"), Hokusai Sori, or Gakyojin Hokusai ("A Man Mad about Art, Hokusai").

Around 1804, Hokusai studied Western styles based on Dutch copperplate prints. In his new work influenced by the Dutch prints, Hokusai gave an illusion of space and landscape elements using light and dark shadows and signed his name horizontally in imitation of Western artists.

Between 1811-1830, Hokusai published an enormous number of illustrated books. The most important was Hokusai Manga, the artist's lifelong project, which took thirty-eight years. Only two volumes were published at this time.