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anime
September 2008 
Hokusai's "Great Wave" + Coffee=
Quiche
My take on one of my favorite Ukiyo-e prints, The Great Wave by Hokusai- Wave 'o Coffee! Spoon surfing on a wave of frothy cream and espresso, with a Mt. Fuji of whipped cream! Is your coffee cup empty? Ukiyo-e woodblock print masters such as Hokusai, Hiroshige, Kunisada, Eizan, etc., of the Edo (Tokyo) period in Japan (1600-1868) have inspired and influenced numerous European artists (namely Van Gogh, Monet, Dega, and Cassatt), printing techniques, illustration, graphic design, the Art Nouveau movement, and Japonisme ornamental design, Manga (specifically inspired by Hokusai) and Anime, etc., and...me! The Library of Congress has a lovely exhibit of The Floating World of Ukiyo-e, and there is a wonderful site on Edo Picture Books and Japonisme with interactive, page by page views of each book with audio of a speaker telling the stories in English. My favorite resource on Japonisme and Chinoise is a fabulous blog of the same name, the quintessential treasure trove of "eye candy" and commentary on the topic and all things related!
"From the ago of five I have had passion for sketching the form of things, from about the age of fifty I showed a number of drawings, yet of all I drew prior to my seventies there is truly nothing of any great note. When I was seventy-two I finally made out something of the shape of grasses and trees, the structure of birds and other animals, insects, fishes. Therefore when I become eighty I shall have made more progress; in my nineties I shall have penetrated even further the hidden meaning of things; at the age of a hundred I shall have reached the divine mystery, and at one hundred and ten even dots and lines will surely possess a life of their own. I only beg those of you who will live long enough to verify the truth of my words."
-Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)
Access: Public
How perfect, I just posted something about Hokusai today! This is beautiful, and thank you for the links.
My coffee cup gets filled all the time by crashing waves of coffee flavored perfect synchronicity.
Lovely…I had a hokusai calendar 2 years ago…the Godfather of Anime!!!…Jon xx
Thank you Rapunzel and Tantricksta! I feel like having a cup of coffee! Rapunzel, thank you for the nifty factoid about Hokusai and his birthday ritual. Happy Birthday- belated if I'm late, and a very merry un-Birthday otherwise (: