About the Author

Tuttle Studio draws inspiration from the modern and traditional arts of Asia to create designs for its lines of journals, stationery, gift wrapping products and origami paper. It is a division of Tuttle Publishing, a leading publisher of books on the languages, history, art and cultures of Asia. The company was founded in 1832 in Rutland, Vermont (USA) and opened a branch in Tokyo, Japan in 1948.

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) was an influential artist and printmaker. Born in Edo (modern day Tokyo), he displayed artistic talent from a young age, and at 19 formally joined the studio of ukiyo-e artist Katsukawa Shunsho. In addition to his famous woodblock prints--the most famous of which is The Great Wave off Kanagawa (1830-32)--he also illustrated board games, drawing instruction books, paper lanterns and dioramas. Hokusai produced more than 30,000 works in his long career, and greatly influenced the impressionist painters of the nineteenth century; Monet acquired 23 of his pieces, while Degas cited Hokusai as the inspiration behind his sketches of the human form.