Hokusai was born in 1760, and lived most of his life in the Edo (or present-day Tokyo) business district along the Sumida River. Hokusai was unusual among ukiyo-e artists because he changed his name nearly a hundred times in the seventy years until his death in 1849. We know him today as "Hokusai" because this name appeared on and off, in various combinations during a long period from about 1796-1833. He worked under many different schools througout his younger years. In his teens, he studied woodblock engraving under the printer Honjo Yokozunacho. By the age of 18, he entered Katsukawa Shunsho's studio as an apprentice, where he painted portraits of kubuki actors. Throughout his life, Hokusai searched for a style of his own; as he tired of one kind of expression he sought a new one.

The Great Wave off Kanagawa, perhaps the most famous of all Japanese woodblock prints, is from his series Fugaku Sanju-rokkei (Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji), which was completed in 1831. Hokusai experimented with many styles of art, including Western perspective learned from copper engravings that were smuggled into Japan. As seen in this print, Hokusai created his own unique art by blending Western elements into a traditional Japanese landscape that is depicted with simple, flat colors in slightly stylized forms.

Color woodblock print, ca. 1830-34. 8 x 10 in. reproduction with a double mat, packaged.