Primary sourceBookprobably 1834

Random Sketches by Hokusai, Eight Volumes

Katsushika Hokusai · probably 1834

A set of eight sketchbook volumes by Hokusai from around 1834, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This set of eight sketchbooks by Hokusai shows the range of his drawing practice.

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Two facing pages of a Japanese woodblock-printed sketchbook. Left page: a branch of blossoming flowers with leaves in ink outline. Right page: a rocky mountain peak with pine trees and a small figure near a path. Pages have ruled borders and a red-edged cover visible at right. — Katsushika Hokusai, Random Sketches, eight volumes, probably 1834. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

About this source

What it is

This is a set of eight volumes of Hokusai's woodblock-printed sketches, probably made in 1834 during the Edo period. The books are made with ink and colour on paper and are kept at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Why it matters

These sketchbooks demonstrate the wide range of Hokusai's drawing, from plants to landscapes, showing his constant practice of observing the world around him. Collections like this were valued enough to be preserved and later gathered by collectors far from Japan.

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What differences do you notice between the two facing pages shown here?
Why might an artist keep sketchbooks of such varied subjects?
What does the survival of eight full volumes suggest about how valued Hokusai's work was?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Hokusai on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Woodcut print in blue, cream and tan tones of a huge curling wave with claw-like foam fingers rising over two boats full of rowers. Small Mount Fuji appears in the distance under a pale sky. Japanese calligraphy sits in a cartouche at upper left.

Painting

Primary source

The Great Wave off Kanagawa

Katsushika Hokusai · 1830

Woodblock print page from Hokusai Manga with Japanese characters. Two men carry loads on poles over their shoulders; the man on the right carries a large hanging sack. A child carries a basket on a pole, and a crouching figure with a basket sits in the lower center beside a large basket.

Painting

Primary source

Man with Filarial Elephantiasis

Katsushika Hokusai · 1834

Woodcut print in ink on paper showing a scene at a wooden outhouse. A samurai with two swords peers out from a window of the latrine building. Outside, a bald man carries a large wooden bucket on a pole, and another man crouches in the foreground. Japanese text and a signature appear in the margins.

Painting

Primary source

Samurai Visiting a Latrine

Hokusai Katsushika · 1834

Colour woodblock print of Mount Fuji with a red-brown peak streaked with white snow, under a deep blue sky filled with rows of white, layered clouds. Dark green slopes fill the lower foreground. A vertical title cartouche with printed characters sits at the upper left.

Painting

Primary source

Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji

Katsushika Hokusai · c. 1830-1832

Woodblock print of a red-and-yellow rowing boat on a dark blue pond with lotus leaves. Several women in red and pink robes sit and kneel in the boat, one at the stern holding a long pole, others reaching toward the water. A green bank with bushes is at left, and a poem cartouche is at upper right.

Painting

Primary source

Women in a Rowing Boat on a Lotus Pond

Hokusai Katsushika

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