Manga – Hokusai – Manga

The exhibition approaches the Hokusai Manga by Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), the master of ukiyo-e, from the perspective of contemporary Japanese manga (comics). It does not seek to prove that Hokusai was the “inventor” of manga in the modern sense, but rather examines how the concept, use, and meaning of “manga” have developed and changed over the past two hundred years.

The Hokusai Manga is not a series of narrative stories, but a unique visual encyclopedia. Its pages present scenes of everyday life, human gestures and facial expressions, work processes, animals, plants, natural phenomena, mythical figures, and humorous observations side by side. The original purpose of the drawing collection was to provide inspiration and encourage learning: Hokusai’s students and followers used it as a model book, copying and reworking its motifs. In this sense, the Hokusai Manga can also be regarded as an early precursor to today’s “How to draw …” manuals.

One of the exhibition’s most important features is its unusual approach. Instead of aiming at a historiographic verification of influences, the exhibition invites viewers to ponder their own notions about manga by comparing works from different periods while exploring the diversity therein. The comparison of drawings from Hokusai’s time with manga pages from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries highlights that manga is not a unified style or a closed tradition, but a continuously evolving visual practice.

A separate section of the exhibition is devoted to the appearance of Hokusai himself in contemporary manga. The artist appears variously as a historical figure, a fictional character, and a pop-cultural icon in stories aimed at different age groups and genres. The exhibition also presents works by contemporary Japanese manga artists created especially for this occasion, which reinterpret the motifs of the Hokusai Manga from new perspectives, demonstrating that this legacy remains alive and inspiring today.

A central idea of the exhibition is that manga—both in the past and in the present—is a participatory medium. It is built on copying, sharing, and reinterpretation, while encouraging active reception and creation. The images do not merely depict, but convey ideas and experiences, and they involve the viewer in the process of meaning-making.

The exhibition Manga – Hokusai – Manga thus creates a bridge between nineteenth-century Japanese visual culture and the globally known world of contemporary manga. It does not offer ready-made answers, but poses questions about how we read images, how visual forms are inherited and transformed, and what manga means today as a cultural practice.

The exhibition is an international traveling exhibition of The Japan Foundation, which promotes Japanese art and culture worldwide. It was realized as part of the organization’s art and cultural exchange program.

Director: Jaqueline Berndt (Kyoto Seika University) 
Curators: Itó Yú; Takahasi Mizuki 
Exhibition and graphic design: Szobue Sin