1. Floating World of Ukiyo-e [ü- ˌ kē-ō- ˈ yā] Katsushika Hokudai and the Japanese Wood-block prints of the Edo Period

2. Japan during the Edo Period (1603-1868) The 250 years during which the Tokugawa shoguns ruled Japan were relatively peaceful and isolated. Society was divided into four classes, each with specific roles and restrictions. Merchants were at the lowest social level, but had more freedom to travel and accumulate wealth than other classes.

3. Woman Looking at Herself in a Mirror, about 1805, by Katsushika Hokusai Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on silk, Wililam Sturgis Bigelow Collection. Making woodblock prints was a three-stage process: (1) painting a design with ink, (2) carving the design onto wooden blocks, and (3) applying colored ink to the blocks and pressing sheets of paper on them to print the design. Each stage was completed by a highly skilled specialist.

4. Kabukidô Enkyô. Portrait of Nakayama, Tomisaburô, ca. 1800. Color woodblock print, 11 1/4 in. x 9 1/4 in. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division As ukiyo-e became popular, artists turned to entertainment for subjects. Yakusha-e were portraits of kabuki actors in popular roles; Bijin-ga illustrated beautiful women of Edo Later, landscape prints were used like today's postcards.

5. "Night Rain on Karasaki Pine” from the series Eight Views of Ômi, ca. 1800-1802. Color woodblock, 10 in. x 7 1/2 in. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (31)(LC- USZC4-8530) Hokusai was the first Ukiyo-e printmaker to make landscape a primary concern. This is from a series, which depicts beautiful scenes of Lake Biwa in Ômi Province in Japan.

6. The Hokusai Sketchbooks (Hokusai manga). Nagoya: Katano, 1814-78. Woodblock-printed books, 9 in. x 6 1/4 in. Fifteen volumes. Library of Congress Japanese Section, Asian Division (43)(LC-USZC4-8635)

7. Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849). “Rainstorm Beneath the Summit” (Sanka hakuu). Bequest of Mrs. Cora Timken Burnett to SDMA.

8. The Great Wave Off Kanagawa From "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji"; 1823-29 (140 Kb); Color woodcut, 10 x 15 in; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

9. The Red Fuji, from the series Fugaku Sanjurokkei (The Thirty-six Views of Fuji) Signed Hokusai aratame litsu hitsu Oban yoko-e, 24.7x36cm all text & images © Sotheby's Olympia

10. Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849). “Poem by Sangi Hitoshi,” Woodblock print, ca. 1835. Bequest of Mrs. Cora Timken Burnett to SDMA. History, Legend and Myth

11. One Hundred Tales [snake] Edo: Tsuruya Kiemon, 1830. From an album containing five color woodblock prints, 12 in. x 10 in. each. Library of Congress Asian Division (48) (LC-USZC4-8746) Hokusai also made some very ghoulish images in his series “One Hundred Tales.” In this one, the jealous spirit of a deceased person returns as a snake.

12. One Hundred Tales [lantern-headed ghost]. Edo: Tsuruya Kiemon, 1830. From an album containing five color woodblock prints,12 in. x 10 in. each. Library of Congress Asian Division (48)(LC-USZC4-8749) Oiwa is poisoned by her husband, goes insane, and then dies. She returns to haunt him, usually as a paper lantern.

13. The Badger Tea-Kettle. Hokusai School Collection of Drawings, ca. 1840s. Ink on paper, 10 1/2 in. x 7 1/2 in. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (51) (LC-USZC4-8418) This drawing is attributed to the Katsushika school. It is from a traditional story in which a badger transforms into a hanging tea-kettle.

14. Japan opened to trade with the West in the 1850’s. How is this print by a 19th century French artist similar to the Japanese prints he admired and collected, like the one below? Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Mademoiselle Marcelle Lender, en buste, 1895. Crayon lithograph in eight colors, 14 in. x 10 1/2 in. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

15. Mary Cassatt. The Fitting, ca. 1893. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (91)(LC-USZC4-8499) Woman Looking at Herself in a Mirror, about 1805, by Katsushika Hokusai Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on silk, Wililam Sturgis Bigelow Collection.

16. Boy and Mount Fuji, by Katsushika Hokusai, ca. 1839. Hanging scroll mounted on panel; ink and color on silk. 69.5 x 127.5 cm. Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution.