C. J. Holmes - Hokusai

1760: Katsushika Hokusai is born in Edo.

1763: The three-year-old Hokusai is adopted by Nakajima Ise, a mirror polisher working for the Tokugawa Shogunate. Soon in his childhood, he begins to learn woodblock carving. His career starts when he becomes an apprentice as an engraver at age fourteen.

1778: Hokusai enters the studio of Katsukawa Shunsh , one o f the leading woodblock artisans of the time, where he learns the technique of woodcut printmaking. After one year, he publishes his first works, actor prints, under the name Shunr .

1789: Hokusai leaves the establishment because of a disagreement with t he master s successor, Shunko. This is a major turning point in his life.

1790s: First known surimono by Hokusai produced. Moves away from the standard motifs found in ukiyo-e (actors and courtesans) towards landscapes and scenes of daily life in Japan. This reorientation represents a breakthrough on a personal level as well as one on in relation to ukiyo-e art. During this period he attains success as a woodblock artist, doing a number of series on the legend of the Chshingura.

1800: He produces the Famous Places in Edo and fifteen sketch books which were published in 1814 under the title Hokusai manga . After undertaking about thirty different pseudonyms, he assumes the name Katsushika Hokusai, as he is known toda y. His unusually-large amount of name changes reflects the change in his artistic creativity.

early 1830s: He produces the landscape prints which are now considered his greatest works. While this series was still coming out, he began his other famous series, such as Voyage to the Waterfalls of the Various Provinces (Shokoku taki meguri) and Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjrokkei) , comprised of forty-six prints.

1834-1836: Due to his age, Hokusai suffers from intermittent paralysis which affects the quality of his work. However, he continues to paint and jokingly assumes the name gaky -r jin (the old man mad with painti ng). Completes the three volumes of One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku hyakkei) , Picturesque Views of Famous Bridges from Various Provinces (Shokoku meikykiran) , and the bird and flower series, all in this period. The last notable work was a series entitled the One Hundred Poets (Shga Hiakounin lsshu) .

1839: Hokusai suffers the loss of all his paintings and drawings in his workshop during a fire. Although he continues to produce more works, principally brush-painting, for the next ten years after the loss of his collection in the fire, the quality falters compared to his earlier works.

1849: He dies on 18 April (or 10 May), at the age of ninety. After his death, copies of some of his woodblock prints are sent to the West, and along with the works of other ukiyo-e artists, his prints influence Western masters such as Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin.