Hokusai Manga. Nature

Evgeny Semyonovich Steiner – Japanologist, PhD in Philology, 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, he has been a 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. Steiner's book Hokusai Manga: 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 is one of the most famous Japanese artists of the Edo period. Throughout his life, he published albums of engraved drawings called Manga. In fifteen issues with four thousand figures and motifs, Hokusai presented an encyclopedia of ancient Japan in pictures – ranging from gods and heroes of antiquity to contemporary amorous affairs, household items, and various natural vistas. The book by Japanologist Evgeny Steiner is a complete and thoroughly commented publication of Manga, unrivaled in the world in terms of the completeness of illustrations and historical commentary. The author is convinced that cultural and historical explanations are often absolutely necessary. Hokusai Manga, although not written in hieroglyphs, but in pictographic 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 become a reference guide and will be of interest to all art lovers, enthusiasts of Japanese culture, as well as professional Japanologists and Sinologists.