Primary sourcePainting1834

Samurai Visiting a Latrine

Hokusai Katsushika · 1834

A comic 1834 woodcut by Hokusai showing a samurai peering from an outhouse window, part of his later series of everyday-life scenes.

This humorous woodcut was designed and printed by Hokusai himself, showing his comic side.

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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. — Hokusai Katsushika, Samurai Visiting a Latrine, 1834. Wellcome Collection, United Kingdom.

About this source

What it is

This is a woodblock print made by Hokusai in 1834. It shows a samurai peeking out of a latrine window while two other men go about their business outside. It is held today by the Wellcome Collection in the United Kingdom.

Why it matters

Hokusai is best known for his dramatic landscapes, but he also produced many playful, comic scenes of ordinary and even embarrassing moments in daily life. This print shows that even a respected artist used humour to depict everyday Edo-period Japan, including people usually shown with dignity, like samurai, in undignified situations.

Look closer

What makes this scene funny or surprising to look at?
Why might Hokusai have chosen to show a samurai in this situation rather than a farmer or merchant?
What does the Japanese lettering in the margin likely tell us?

This painting 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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