北斎写真画譜|A Realistic Sketchbook by Hokusai (Hokusai shashin gafu 北斎写真画譜)
1814 (Bunka 11)
Medium
Woodblock printed book (orihon, accordion-style); ink and color on paper
Dimensions
10 1/4 × 6 13/16 in. (26 × 17.3 cm)
Classification
Illustrated Books
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Mary and James G. Wallach Family Foundation Gift, in honor of John T. Carpenter, 2013
Accession Number
2013.719
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
About this artwork
"北斎写真画譜|A Realistic Sketchbook by Hokusai (Hokusai shashin gafu 北斎写真画譜)" by Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎, created in 1814 (Bunka 11), is executed in woodblock printed book (orihon, accordion-style); ink and color on paper. This illustrated books belongs to the Metropolitan Museum's Asian Art collection. The work measures 10 1/4 × 6 13/16 in. (26 × 17.3 cm). It originates from Japan, Edo period (1615–1868). The artwork entered the museum's collection through purchase, mary and james g. wallach family ...
Art Historical Context
Katsushika Hokusai’s *A Realistic Sketchbook* (Hokusai shashin gafu), published in 1814 during Japan’s Edo period, captures the artist’s lifelong fascination with careful observation of the natural and built world. Created as a woodblock-printed orihon—an accordion-fold book—the work allowed Hokusai’s sketches to reach a broad audience beyond his studio. At a time when ukiyo-e artists were celebrated for dramatic landscapes and everyday scenes, this compact volume offered intimate studies that emphasized accuracy and spontaneity. Printed in ink and delicate color on paper, the book’s modest size (roughly 10 by 7 inches) made it both portable and affordable. Its pages feature motifs such as snow-covered mountains and rural houses, reflecting Hokusai’s interest in seasonal atmosphere and architectural form. These studies reveal how the master distilled complex scenes into expressive yet precise lines, a technique that would later influence his celebrated series like *Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji*. Today preserved in the Metropolitan Museum’s Asian Art collection, the sketchbook stands as a testament to Hokusai’s role in bridging traditional Japanese printmaking with a modern sensibility for realism. It invites viewers to appreciate the quiet beauty found in ordinary landscapes rendered with extraordinary clarity.
About the Artist
Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎 (Japanese) · 1760 –1849
Japanese, Tokyo (Edo) 1760–1849 Tokyo (Edo)