MANJI Period
1834 - 1849

In 1834 Hokusai, age 75, uses the name Gakyo Rojin Manji (meaning Old Man Manji Mad at Paintings) for the first time in the preface for FUGAKU HYAKKEI. He suddenly withdrew from nishiki-e works which brought him high acclaim during the Iitsu Period and focused on brush paintings in his final years. Hokusai turned away from genre themes which were considered most important for ukiyo-e artists and began to base his works on Japanese and Chinese legends, religious subjects, and flora and fauna. He also published yomi-hon and ehon as well as edehon manuals disclosing his techniques. Hokusai continued to produce master pieces and showed no signs of decline in his final years of life.


1834 Tenpo 5 75 FUGAKU HYAKKEI Hundred Views of Fuji, Part I, picture book signed zen Hokusai Iitsu aratame Gakyorojin Manji.


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1835 Tenpo 6 76 EDO RYUKO RYORITSU Fashionable Edo Cookery, Part IV, cookbook by Yaoya Zenshiro, signed zen Hokusai Iitsu and others.

HYAKUNIN ISSHU UBA GA ETOKI Hundred Poems Explained by the Wet Nurse, a series of 28 horizontal oban prints, signed zen Hokusai Manji
Mizuno Tadakuni appointed as roju (shogunate's senior councillor).
Ninjo-bon and kokkei-bon become popular.
1836 Tenpo 7 77 NIKUHITSU GAJO Brush Painting Manual in 10 parts, signed zen Hokusai Iitsu aratame Gakyorojin Manji, sealed Mount Fuji. Top of 1830'.

SHOSHOKU EHON SHIN-HINAGATA New Designs for Craftsmen, edehon signed zen Hokusai Iitsu aratame Gakyorojin Manji.
Uprise of riots throughout the country.
1837 Tenpo 8 78 NIKKOZANSHI Guide to Nikko in 5 volumes, a travel guide edited by Ueda Takewasa signed Gakyorojin Manji.
Riot in Osaka led by Oshio Heihachiro.
1838 Tenpo 9 79 SHINPEN SUIKO-GADEN The New Illustrated SUIHUCHUAN. Illustration indicated "From My Sickbed" found.
Administration prohibits stores from selling koshoku-bon and ehon.
1839 Tenpo 10 80 Many works burned during a Daruma Yokocho fire.

NEKO Cat, brush painting signed Gakyorojin Manji at age 80, sealed Katushika.
Watanabe Kazan and Takano Choei oppressed by the Bansha-no Goku Incident.
1840 Tenpo 11 81 Said to have traveled to Boso district.

TSUBAKI TO SAKE NO KIRIMI Camellia and Slice of Salmon, brush painting signed Gakyorojin Manji at age 81, sealed Katsushika.
Commissioner of finance Toyama Kagemoto appointed to the commissioner of Edo city.
Death of Tani Buncho at age 78.
1841 Tenpo 12 82 EHON HAYABIKI NAGASHIRA MUSHA BURUI The Quick Pictorial Dictionary - Warriors Classified, edehon signed Hokusai aratame Katsushika Iitsu.
Shogun's councilor Mizuno Tadakuni issues a number of sumptuary laws known as the Tenpo Reforms.
1842 Tenpo 13 83 Begins drawing shishi-lions each day, as talismans, later to be collected in an album entitled NISSHIN JOMA.

AKIKUSA Autumn Flowers, fan prints, brush painting signed Gakyorojin Manji, sealed Katsushika.
Tamenaga Shunsui chained.
Death of Ryutei Tanehiko at age 60.
1843 Tenpo 14 84 Letters to Takai Kozan in Shinshu Obuse dated April 21 and August 9.

Performance on Sarubashi Bridge, brush painting signed Hachijuyon-ro Manji, sealed Katsushika.
Death of Hirata Atsutane at age 68.
Death of Tamenaga Syunsui at age 54.
1844 Koka 1 85 SECCHU TAKENOKO-GARI Meng Zong Gathering Bamboo Shoot in Snowfall, brush painting signed Gakyorojin Manji trial at age 85, sealed Katsushika.

The Ceiling Painting for the Higashi-machi Festival Float in Shinshu, Obuse.
Death of Mamiya Rinzo at age 65.
1845 Koka 2 86 Painting of a votive tablet representing Susano-no-mikoto fighting evil gods, signed zen Hokusai Manji (work lost during the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923).

The Ceiling Painting for the Kan-machi Festival Float in Shinshu, Obuse.


*Click image for a further enlargement of this work.
Aoyama Big fire in Edo.
Shogunate punishes Mizuno Tadakuni, the senior councillor of administration.
1846 Koka 3 87 KAREI MABARU SAYORI Flatfish Rockfish Hemiraph, brush painting signed Hachijushichi rojin, sealed Mount Fuji.
1847 Koka 4 88 HITSUJI Sheep, brush painting signed Gakyorojin Manji trial at age 88, sealed Katsushika.
Zenkoji Great Earthquake.
1848 Kaei 1 89 In June, meets his apprentice Honma Hokuyo at the temporary residence in Asakusa.

EHON SAISHIKITSU On the Use of Coloring, Part I and II in 2 volumes, edehon signed Gakyorojin Manji.
Death of Ikeda Eisen at age 58.
Death of Takizawa Bakin at age 82.
1849 Kaei 2 90 FUJIKOSHI-NO-RYU Dragon Flying over Mount Fuji, brush painting signed 90-year-old man Manji, sealed Hyaku, dated Kaei 2 ( 1849), first month, day of the Dragon, referring in the signature to the fact that Hokusai was born in 1760, the year of the dragon.

In the spring, Hokusai fell ill, and on April 18 passed away at the temporary lodging at the precinct of Henjoin temple in Shoden-cho, Asakusa. Hokusai was 90 years old at the time of his death.
Hokusai's poem preparing his death read: I shall turn into an ignis fatuus, leisurely flying into the darkness beyond the fields of summer. Frequent visits of foreign ships on Japanese waters.

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