getting swept away by the great waves of the great hokusai

it has been quite a while to finally post this entry. i am so sorry for the delay, we are in the middle of the scorching summer heat here in the northern hemisphere, but this is the 4th and last installation of the great nagano winter trip.

allow me to refresh your memories, we all started here at the temple, then cleansed ourselves in warm waters to make ourselves fresh, before we visited our long lost cousins.

i could still remember it vividly, we woke up early and went down to the dining area for a breakfast buffet, filled up our stomachs, and dipped at the hotel's public bath for the last time. we braced the chilly winter breeze and headed to our final stop, the small and pleasant town of obuse. now is the time to learn some culture and art! welcome to hokusai museum!

obuse was known for two things: chestnut and the great hokusai. you must be wondering by now what hokusai is? to be completely honest, i was also in for the surprise, i had no idea what / who / where it was.

we reached the museum entrance after minutes of walking from the station. i still had no clue even at the entrance, i got some hint only after i received the ticket; this is a quite famous art piece for me not to recognize. i will just have to confirm once i see that specific piece inside.

the first parts of the exhibit showed prints on paper, hokusai (1760 - 1849) was apparently a master in ukiyo-e a style of woodblock printing art. from my understanding, the process would start with the artist drawing or designing the art, this was then carved unto woodblocks, inked, and then stamped on to paper. woodblock printing was japan's answer to mass production of books from the 17th century.

the illustrations above were his printing of a nue and of a giant spider both published in the 19th century.

i found some of the pieces hilarious, like this one on of a kappa hunter who used his own butt to lure out the kappa. there were also random depictions of daily life; passing gas on to someone is apparently part of daily life.

there were depictions of olden games or probably forms of olden wrestling matches: one legged form, butt wrestling, seated wrestling, leg fencing. they were physically active, so different from what we consider as games in the modern age.

if these illustrations were in novels, this would really help visualize the scenario. just look at the details of these pieces, and then remember that these were printed from woodblocks.

the left image shows a monster, wazawai, as it attacks people. the right image shows auspicious items when dreamt on new year: mt fuji, a hawk, and an eggplant. an eggplant deemed auspicious is just so random.

here are some more interesting works of art and manga from hokusai which gained him even more popularity during his time.

by this point, i'm pretty sure you still do not recognize this great man. but it was in the early 1830s when hokusai produced this work which secured his fame throughout japan and even in the west. in his 70s, he produced thirty-six views of mount fuji, a series which depicted mount fuji in different angles and seasons. among those was this print below.

the great wave off kanagawa

the series of landscape colored prints of mount fuji easily cemented hokusai 's name in the art world. and he accomplished that in his 70s, he was the perfect example that age is but a number. he showed that it is never too late to gain success, just keep on pushing and pressing on with the things you love doing.

he was clearly a lover of art, he started in his 20s. and he never stopped producing art and constantly sought to produce better works, until he died at around 90 years old. he was a student of art.

here are other works of art of hokusai and his students also displayed in the museum.

both of these above were from one of hokusai's most talented painters, teisai hokuba.

now here is how the town obuse came into the picture. in 1842, hokusai now 83 years of age, travelled to obuse and was given a studio under the patronage of a wealthy local merchant. he never stopped creating pieces of art even at his much advanced age. it was in here where he created more masterpieces.

at the age of 85, he completed the "dragon" and the "phoenix" ceiling paintings which were attached to the much older higashimachi festival float (1806). this float, including the paintings, is regarded as a nagano prefectural treasure.

above is the kanmachi festival float also regarded as a prefectural treasure. this too contained a painting by hokusai in it's ceiling shown below.

completed between 1845 to 1846, the "masculine wave" and the "feminine wave", as well as the kanmachi festival float decorations were created by hokusai. he was around 87 at this point. he continued doing art until died, indeed.

this whole visit to this museum taught me that success can sometimes come at a much later age, when you least expected it. their is really no time limit, as long as you continue pursuing your dreams the possibility is endless. let us keep on learning and pushing forward.

here is a short video of this trip as a recap, hope you enjoyed the journey with me.

you can view the museum's details from their website here.
their website also served as source for this article.

as always, AMPING KANUNAY!

_{all content is by yours truly unless otherwise specified}

^{all photos are taken with a galaxy s23 ultra}

^{videos edited using CapCut}