10 Paintings: Katsushika Hokusai Quiz

Answer: Mount Fuji

The "Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji" contains thirty-six different landscape prints, each one containing a different view of Japan's Mount Fuji. Hokusai created them when he was in his seventies, from 1830-1832. "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" is easily the most recognizable, though there are several other views of Mount Fuji from the series that gained recognition in Japan and around the world.

The print was created using Prussian blue, a hue new to the Japanese islands and which Hokusai was fond of. The work has become so famous that plans were made to put the wave on the 1,000 yen bill in 2024.

Answer: courtesans

Most ukiyo-e artists had previously focused on capturing the lives of courtesans and actors in eighteenth-century Japan. Hokusai's early work follows this tradition, though his exploration into painting landscapes, plants, and animals completely turned the artform on its head.

While courtesan portraitures are still very much a part of Japanese art history, Hokusai was the pioneer that made images such as the "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" iconic in Japan and around the world. It was often these landscapes and distant portrayals of people's lives that led to the European adoption of Japanese styles in their own art, particularly the Impressionists.

Answer: Osaka

The Tenjin festival celebrates the Shinto god of art and learning, Tenman Tenjin. It continues in Osaka today as a spectacular boat festival. It begins with a ritual and prayers, and then drummers are dispatched to the city to inform the populace that it has begun.

A street procession then takes place, followed by a boat procession. Similar to Hokusai's woodprint, bridges are closed to car traffic and visitors can save themselves a spot from which they can view the boats.

Answer: Red Fuji

"Fine Wind, Clear Morning", like "The Great Wave off Kanagawa", is part of the collection of Mt. Fuji paintings known as "Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji". In perfect weather conditions, Mount Fuji turns red, and this painting displays that exact moment.

It's no wonder that Hokusai chose the mountain as a subject for so many of his woodprints since the geographical feature has so much historical, cultural, and spiritual significance in Japan. Tourists purchasing postcards or other knickknacks can often find the "Red Fuji" image printed on those items since it is so iconic and features Mt. Fuji so prominently.

Answer: a paper lantern

There are several variations on the kabuki legend, but perhaps my favorite includes a plan hatched by a group of friends of the lover of samurai Tamiya Iemon's. After the samurai falls in love with the girl, her friends give Oiwa, the samurai's wife, a gift of poisoned face cream.

Her face now ugly and deteriorating, she is abandoned by Tamiya Iemon. In a fit of grief, she sprints wildly and is impaled on a samurai sword. With her last breath, she curses her husband and comes back to haunt him as a possessed lantern.

Answer: fisherman

A fisherman and his son are located on a rocky outcrop, the fisherman with his net in the water. The woodblock shows how dangerous this line of work was, even if not every fisherman in the profession stood on such precarious ground. This scene is another from Hokusai's "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji", which, if you can't already tell, dominates as his most popular series.

As one can see, Mount Fuji graces the background.

Answer: a waterfall

Hokusai completed eight prints in his series titled "A Tour of the Waterfalls of the Provinces." As a follower of the Japanese version of Buddhism, he believed in the animistic idea that there are gods and spirits in nature, and this kind of spirituality is said to be found in this woodblock print.

Hokusai's other prints in this series depict the various waterfalls of Japan from many different vantage points, offering differing forms of beauty when viewing these natural wonders.

Answer: Oceans of Wisdom

Hokusai's "Whaling Off Goto" is certainly not something that can be taught as a quick lesson and is also not a simplified drawing. Instead, Hokusai saved that for some simple illustrations he included in three volumes that were created to help potential future artists thrive at their craft. One of these illustrations is titled "Egrets" and includes several quick drawings of the bird on one page.

This series, "Oceans of Wisdom," depicts the daily life of ocean workers. Whalers work in this woodblock, but others in the series include fishermen and shellfish gatherers.

Answer: femininity and masculinity

Titled "Feminine Wave" and "Masculine Wave," Hokusai's paintings are very similar in style, but the slight variabilities between the two are meant to represent traditionally feminine and masculine traits. Japanese society in the Edo period was certainly traditionalist, and Japanese women were forced to adopt submissive gender roles.

Answer: hanging scroll

Hokusai had become weak and emaciated at the end of his life, but his work still displayed seemingly effortless skill. Some art historians believe that Hokusai was painting some version of himself in the tiger, which looks as though it is quite pleased with itself.

In 1998, the hanging scroll was purchased by an American collector for $772,500 (U.S.).