Hokusai Manga. Gods, People, Nature

Evgeny Semyonovich Shteyner is a Japanologist, candidate of philological sciences, and 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” (Moscow). He is the 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 2017 (in a special nomination). 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 volumes with four thousand figures and motifs, Hokusai presented an encyclopedia of old Japan in pictures – from the gods and heroes of antiquity to the romantic affairs, household items, and various natural scenes of his time. The book by Japanologist Evgeny Shteyner is a detailed commentary publication of the “Manga.” The author is convinced that cultural-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 desk reference and will be of interest to all art lovers, enthusiasts of Japanese culture, as well as professional Japanologists and sinologists.