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Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾 北斎?, October 31, 1760 (exact date questionable) – May 10, 1849) was a Japanese artist, ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period.[1] He was influenced by such painters as Sesshu, and other styles of Chinese painting.[2] Born in Edo (now Tokyo), Hokusai is best known as author of the woodblock print series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji which includes the internationally recognized print, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, created during the 1820s. Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji is an ukiyo-e series of large, color woodblock prints (1760–1849). The series depicts Mount Fuji in differing seasons and weather conditions from a variety of different places and distances.
In the artistic technique of creating a “woodblock print”, the text or image was first drawn onto washi (Japanese paper), then glued onto a plank of wood, usually cherry. Wood was then cut away, based on the drawing outlines. A small wooden hard object called a baren was used to press or burnish the paper against the inked woodblock to apply the ink to the paper. Although this may have been done purely by hand at first, complex wooden mechanisms were soon invented and adopted to help hold the woodblock perfectly still and apply proper pressure in the printing process. (Wikipedia.org)
See ALL 36 views of Mt. Fuji by Hokusai on this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty-six_Views_of_Mount_Fuji
