04 Nov / Hokusai Manga by Katsushika Hokusai, edited by Kyoko Wada, translated by Polly Barton [In Shelf Awareness]
A continuous “runaway bestseller” for over two centuries, Hokusai Manga re-emerges in the U.S. in an irresistible boxed gift set. Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), renowned for his iconic The Great Wave Off Kanagawa print and the woodblock series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, created Hokusai Manga as a drawing manual for his apprentices. With its initial 1814 publication, its popularity immediately inspired a clamoring public to demand more, spawning 15 volumes over 64 years.
Beyond the name, this is not contemporary manga but rather a captivating artistic precursor; here, manga “is a redaction of the phrase manzen to egaita ga (‘whimsically drawn pictures’).” Every page invites repeated viewings through these three fits-perfectly-in-the-hand volumes that celebrate and commemorate everyday life, natural wonders, and the fanciful imagination.
Review: “Gift Issue,” Shelf Awareness, November 3, 2020
Readers: Young Adult, Adult
Published: 2020 (United States)