Evgeny Semyonovich Shteyner – Japanologist, PhD in Philological Sciences, Doctor of Arts. He worked at the A.S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, taught and conducted research at universities in Moscow, Jerusalem, Tokyo, Yokohama, New York, Manchester, and London. Since 2012, Professor at the School of Asian Studies of the National Research University Higher School of Economics in Moscow. Author of 15 books published in Russia, the USA, the UK, and Germany. E. Shteyner's book Hokusai Manga: an Encyclopedia of Old Japanese Life in Pictures, St. Petersburg: Petersburg Oriental Studies, 2016, 4 volumes, received the Book of the Year and Enlightener awards in a special nomination in 2017. Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) – one of the most famous Japanese artists of the Edo period. Throughout his life, he published albums of engraved drawings titled Manga. In fifteen volumes with four thousand figures and motifs, Hokusai presented an encyclopedia of old Japan in pictures – from gods and heroes of antiquity to contemporary love affairs, household utensils, and various natural scenes. The book by Japanologist Evgeny Shteyner is a complete and thoroughly commented publication of Manga, unmatched in the world for the completeness of illustrations and historical comments. The author is convinced that cultural and historical explanations are often essential. Hokusai Manga, although written not in hieroglyphs but in pictorial writing, requires translation – from the language of Japanese historical and mythological plots, as well as foreign cultural realities from two hundred years ago. The book will serve as a reference guide and will be of interest to all art lovers, enthusiasts of Japanese culture, as well as professional Japanologists and sinologists.
