Background
Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾北齋) was an artist of such prodigious skill and imagination that it seems inadequate to discuss his achievements in anything less than a book-length exposition. Considered by many to be the greatest artist of the ukiyo-e school, he is said to have made over 30,000 designs (prints, drawings, and paintings) on subjects or in formats as diverse as landscapes; beautiful women; kabuki actor portraits; legendary figures and historical tales; still life; nature, including birds and flowers; erotica; surimono; sketch books; illustrated albums, books, poetry compilations and novels; and didactic painting manuals.
Hokusai is famous for what might very well be the most recognizable and admired woodblock print in the world — the iconic Kanagawa oki nami ura (Under the wave off Kanagawa: 神奈川沖浪裏) from his series Fugaku Sanjûrokkei (Thirty-six views of Mount Fuji: 冨嶽三十六景) circa 1831, which he signed "Hokusai aratame Iitsu hitsu" (Drawn by Iitsu, formerly known as Hokusai: 北斎改爲一筆).
Hokusai designed more than 270 ehon, a remarkably prolific total. In 1815 he provided sketches for Ehon jôruri zekku (Illustrated Book of Chinese verses and jôruri: 絵本浄瑠璃絶句). The ehon presents scenes from popular jôruri—musical performances of narrative song with shamisen accompaniment which are usually enacted with bunraku puppets and sometimes incorporated into kabuki plays.
Hokutei Bokusen 北亭墨僊 (Maki Bokusen 牧墨僊, Gekkôtei Bokusen 月光亭牧墨僊 1775-1824), one of Hokusai’s Nagoya pupils and assistants, and credited in the ehon colophon as the "proof-correcting pupil," added Chinese verses kanshi (漢詩) to jôruri scenes which Hokusai had drawn at his behest. The first edition, published by Kadomaruya [Jinsuke] and Matsuya Biemon in Edo, was printed in shades of sumi. Richard Lane noted that Hokusai's famous "nervous line" emerges in this period and is noticeable on some of the designs.
In Jôruri zekku, the figures of the women show considerable changes from those of the poetry books illustrated by Hokusai in what was called his "Sori period".... In 1815, in what ... could be called the "Taito period" ... the figures have become more robust, the line more sweeping though perhaps less graceful, and there is a sense of agitation, furthered by a zigzag, crinkly line in the draperies, most evident in the neckline of the kimono...."
Collation among the various surviving copies is complicated by differences in the number of mages found in each edition. There was also a later colored edition
This information on this page is based on Fiorillo: https://viewingjapaneseprints.net/texts/ukiyoe/hokusai.html
Design
Jack Hillier (The Art of Hokusai in Book Illustration) assumed that "the relationship between Bokusen and Hokusai was a close and fruitful one. One suspects that this Nagoya artist, with whom Hokusai stayed when he came to that city in 1812, was on friendly terms with the prominent publisher there, Eirakuya, and that it was possibly through his instrumentation that the Manga and many other books were conceived and published."
The set offered here of an original block carved on both sides along with three different editions of the ehon offers a remarkable opportunity for the serious collector to acquire a rare prize in ukiyo-e.
References:
- Brown, Louise: Block Printing and Book Illustration in Japan: London: Routledge & Sons, 1924, no. 183.4.
- Hillier, Jack: The Art of Hokusai in Book Illustration, 1980, pp. 132-137, pls. 111 & 112.
- Hillier, Jack Collection, The British Museum, no. 1797,0305,0.427.1 (for 26 designs from the first edition of the 1815 ehon with color)
- Toda, Kenji: Descriptive Catalog of the Ryerson Collection of Japanese and Chinese Illustrated Books. Art Institute of Chicago, 1931, no. 256.
- Richard Lane, Hokusai: Life and Work, 1989, p.158-162, nos. 210 & 211; pp. 304-305, no. 181.
- H. Kerlen, Catalogue of Pre-Meiji Japanese Books and Maps in Public Collections in the Netherlands, 1996, p. 294.
- Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, four related drawings, object nos. AK-MAK-350 & AK-MAK-351
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