Hokusai manga

• Published: 1814-1878
• Illustrator: Katsushika Hokusai
• Japanese: 北斎漫画 (Hokusai manga)

Hokusai manga is a 15-volume series of books of illustrations by the ukiyo-e master Hokusai. Often mistakenly cited as an important precursor to modern manga (comicbooks), the work consists almost entirely of mere illustrations, with only minimal captions or narrative structure, and no dialogue, let alone modern comicbook conventions such as word balloons and division of the page into panels. The illustrations range widely, from collections of spear-wielding men in different poses, to diagrams of torii, sketches of birds, landscape scenes, and fuller compositions resembling single-sheet woodblock prints. The work is surely the most prominent pre-20th century example of the use of the phrase "manga"; however, Hokusai employed the term for its literal meaning, roughly translated as "pictures running wild," or "overflowing/spreading pictures," and with no intention of any meaning related to narrative, or to pioneering a new graphical narrative style, format, or genre.

The fifteen volumes of Hokusai manga combined include roughly 4,000 pages of illustration. The first ten volumes were published between 1814 and 1819. The next two came out more than ten years later, in 1832-1833, and 1834, respectively. The publication date for volumes 13 and 14 are unknown; the final volume was published posthumously in 1878, nearly 30 years after Hokusai's death, but, unlike volume 14, carrying his signature.

References

• Jacqueline Berndt, “Manga and ‘Manga’: Contemporary Japanese Comics and their Dis/similarities with Hokusai Manga,” in Manggha, Krakow: Japanese Art and Technology Center (2008).