Hokusai's sketchbooks: The precursor to modern manga?

[Angelcake the Fox]

Hokusai was probably the greatest (or, barring that, probably the most internationally famous) artist in the history of Japanese fine art. Acclaimed throughout the world, Hokusai was a master of the ukiyo-e woodblock print. His individual works are so beautiful in their simplicty, yet so balanced in their detail, that each work is a world unto itself.

His most famous work is probably his unmatched series of prints, Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji. This series is comprised of various landscapes, each of which features Mt. Fuji in varying detail. Sometimes Mt. Fuji is the center of the picture. And sometimes it's only barely visible in the background, as is the case with what is probably Hokusai's most famous single print, Beneath the Great Wave off Kanagawa. Hokusai also produced several other works, as he was famous for his obsession with his work.

However, his largest single work is the subject of this post. I'm talking of Hokusai Manga. This is a 15-volume series of books, all of which are crammed with several sketches, charicatures and cartoons from Hokusai. Hokusai dubbed his work 'manga' after the literal meaning of the word, which is 'whimsical pictures'.

None of the pictures are comics, nor do they have a plot. Each page comprises of various sketches that revolve around a certain subject (a sample of which can be viewed here). Things like fishermen, villagers, nobility, bathers, plants, wildlife, fish, insects, gods and demons, yokai, and scenes from popular ghost stories all take center stage.

Indeed, these were sketches that were made 'whimsically'. Because they are sketches and therefore lack the detail of traditional ukiyo-e, many of the pictures are charicatured. Some is even downright cartoonish. There is a definite humor to many of these. These were made for enjoyment, and it's obvious from the whimsical nature of the pictures, if not the sheer volume of them, that Hokusai definently enjoyed making this work.

The entire point behind the work was, according to Hokusai, meant to emphasize the idea behind the picture, and not detail.

Now, although it is questionable whether or not Hokusai actually invented manga (chances are he didn't), he DID coin the term 'manga'. Indeed, the cartoonish nature of many of the pictures were carried over into modern manga, and the sheer amount of various subjects covered in Hokusai's manga would eventually define the numerous subjects and genres that modern mangaka would encapsulate in their own work.

So, in essence, although Hokusai Manga contains no plot, or even sequence, the concept (a book of cartoons of varying subjects, released in serialized volumes) and execution (the sketchy, cartoonish nature of the pictures) behind it can very well be considered the precursor to modern manga.

The first volume of Hokusai Manga can be viewed here.

Take a gander at Hokusai's manga, and his other works, and come to apprecciate the magnificent artistic heritage that our modern 'whimsical pictures' has behind it.

[Cosmo]

Actually, in Edo-period Japan, there was an old tradition of printing books which, thanks to the woodblock printing technique, freely mixed texts and drawings. Not sequential art yet, but some kind of preliminary phase. Hokusai must have found inspiration in these books, who greatly helped to increase the literacy rate in the 17th and 18th centuries.

An amusing coincidence is that Hokusai and Rodolphe Töpffer, the Swiss real inventor of modern comic books, were contemporaries : Hokusai's dates are 1760-1849, Töpffer's dates are 1799-1846. Obviously the seclusion of Japan made any contact between the two impossible, but it seems the idea of a sequential art was in the air (reminds me of Teilhard de Chardin's noosphere theory... )

[Angelcake the Fox]

Indeed, you're right. But there's a difference.

The books you mention were almost always printed in full color. Hokusai Manga, on the other hand, was completely in black and white.

Also, oddly enough, there were some pieces within Hokusai's manga that actually WERE sequential. Specifically, pieces that showcased human motion.

Of course, Hokusai wasn't the only ukiyo-e master to produce something called 'manga'. He was the first, but not the last. The last great ukiyo-e master, Yoshitoshi, produced a work between 1885 and 1887 called Yoshitoshi Manga, which showcased, in full color, various whimsical illustrations of popular Japanese fairy tales.

[Bryan Stone]

I recently did a ton of research on this for a presentation. I started to collect my notes and some images on my livejournal but have yet to finish. Probably not any new info but I thought you might like to take a peak anyway.

http://marsmckay.livejournal.com/16797.html

I could be mistaken but I believe that the roots of manga as we know it today actually originate from the British comics magazine called Punch. A British officer in Japan in the later part of the 1800s (or early 1900s, I'm trying to remember...) started a Japanese version of Punch called Ponchi-e. If anyone would like more specifics just let me know. I'd be happy to look back through my notes...I could post book titles as well.

[Cosmo]

Actually, Punch was, with Le Charivari in France, one of the most influential and popular magazines of humour in the 1860's, when Japan fully reopened to the West. No wonder it inspired Japanese artists : the new Imperial government officially encouraged Western ideas and concepts, and there was a reciprocal influence in the artistic field.

At this time, Punch published satirical drawings which featured speech balloons, like in the caricatures of George Cruikshank. Caricatures were an old tradition in Japan but the introduction of balloons helped to create a new form of art. I've read that a French painter called Georges Bigot played an important role in this process. Bigot lived 17 years in Japan, from 1882 to 1899, and he was himself very influenced by Japanese woodblock prints. Here's an article mentioning him :

http://asian.fiu.edu/jsr/Table%20of%20Cont%202000.pdf

And an example of his works :

http://www.baxleystamps.com/litho/meiji ... 1204.shtml

[Angelcake the Fox]

I could be mistaken but I believe that the roots of manga as we know it today actually originate from the British comics magazine called Punch.

That could very well be so. Ponchi-e was quite popular in Japan.

From what I've read, the first "manga proper" (i.e. one that is an actual comic) was a four panel comic strip by a man named Rakuten Kitizawa, created as a Sunday supplement modeled after American newspapers.

Although primitive, it is not wise to knock the four-panel manga, as it was this style that more or less opened up the door for two very important mangaka.

One of them was a twenty-six year old woman named Machiro Hasegawa, the first woman mangaka, whose Sazae-San gag/soap opera comic strip would go on to be the Japanese equivalent of The Peanuts in popularity, not to mention inspiring the longest running anime series in the medium's history.

As for the other? Well, that would be a 17-year old who created a strip called Diary of Ma-chan, and would eventually go on to create a little robot boy who could fly......

Yeah, you know his name.