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- Before the period of painter
- The period of Practice
- The period of the Sōri style
- The period of illustrations for yomihon
- The period of books of drawing manuals
- The period of nisiki-e
- His later years The period of original paintings
Before the period of painter
From Age 1 to 18
*All ages shown in this page are counting age starting from one.
Born near Honjo Warigesui, Hokusai is said to have been called Tokitaro as an infant and Tetsuzo later on. Only what is known is that his father is Mr. Kawamura and afterwards Hokusai is said to have been adopted by Nakajima Ise, shogunal official mirror maker. It is said that he began to draw and paint pictures at the age of six and began to work at a book-lending shop around 12, and he was working as a woodblock engraver around 14. With his interest in painting, he decided to become an apprentice of ukiyo-e artist Katsukawa Shunsho.
The period of Practice
From Age 19 to 35
The period from 1778 when he became an apprentice of Katsukawa Shunsho, who was widely popular for his actor prints, and he debuted in the community of ukiyo-e painters, calling himself Katsukawa Shunro to 1794 when he left the Katsukawa school. In this period, he was drawing actor prints and illustrations for kibyoshi (illustrated books for adults) as a Katsukawa school artist in the style of Shunsho. He also released works depicting a wide variety of subjects including children, toys, warriors, famous places, sumo wrestling, religious paintings. Only a few hand-painted pictures were preserved such as “The Demon Queller” and “Women in various walks of life”.
The period of the Sōri style and original drawings
From Age 35 to 45
After Hokusai left the Katsukawa school, he assumed the new artist name of Sori in 1794. The name of Sori was used by the head of the Edo Rinpa school which was founded by Tawaraya Sōtatsu. During this period, Hokusai completed his own Sori style which was different from Rinpa style of the time. Deeply linked with the world of comic tanka poetry as well, he painted many prints and illustrations for picture books containing comic tanka poems. In 1798, he began to call himself Hokusai Tokimasa, and become independent from the Rinpa school, declaring that he would never again belong to any school. Until around 1804, the period is called the period of Sori style in accordance with his own style.
The period of illustrations for yomihon
From Age 45 to 52
In the Bunka era (1804-1818), Hokusai vigorously produced illustrations for yomihon (popular literature). For yomihon illustrations, basically only black ink was used, and sometimes thin black ink was used. Hokusai created spatial expressions with depth, original compositions, and other techniques based on the differences in black ink density, thus dramatically increasing the artistic quality of yomihon illustrations. Moreover, during these years, he produced Western scenery woodcuts characterized by shading. He also left numerous original drawings and paintings, producing a volume of work during this period that is second only to the most productive last years of his life. It was also in these years that he assumed the artist names of Katsushika Hokusai and Taito which are very familiar currently.
The period of books of drawing manuals: The birth of Sketches by Hokusai
From Age 53 to 70
During this period, Hokusai had more apprentices than before, and there were people studying how to draw and paint like him throughout Japan. Hokusai therefore devoted his passion to producing books of drawing manuals. It was also during this period that he began to produce images for “Hokusai Manga” which is now worldwide-known as “Sketches by Hokusai”. His books of drawing manuals were not only worth viewing but also being used as collections of design patterns for craft products. Besides drawing manuals, he produced bird's-eye views of nishiki-e during the Bunsei period (1818-1830). Around 1820 to 1822, he adopted the artist name of litsu, and produced more surimono prints.
The period of nisiki-e
From Age 71 to 74
During this period, Hokusai produced landscape woodblock prints and flower-and-bird paintings including Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji and numerous other nishiki-e masterpieces that are still famous today. At the time, the genre that we call landscape picture did not exist in the field of ukiyo-e. Due to the huge popularity of Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, however, the establishment of a new genre called landscape pictures in the field of ukiyo-e paintings was one of Hokusai's great accomplishments. During the period of books of drawing manuals, he produced some examples of works boldly using Western expression techniques, but in this period, he used Western expression techniques with even more sophisticated methods, and incorporated expression techniques of Nanpin school from China for his works.
His later years The period of original paintings
Age 75 to 90
In his One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji, published in 1834, Hokusai wrote that if he struggled until the age of one hundred and several decades more, he would be able to produce pictures looking as if they were alive. During this period, he adopted to the artist name of Manji, devoted his energy to original drawing and painting, and made a great shift in subject matter from pictures of customs to works inspired by historical traditions from Japan and China, religious pictures, and other subjects. He also released books of drawing manuals for sketches and painters describing how to draw and paint pictures and how to mix colors, along with other publications. In spring of 1849, Hokusai fell ill, and, although he still longed to become a true painter, he finally saw the end of his life at the age of 90.
