‹ The Hall of RecordsEntered into the record July 28, 2026
HISTORICAL RECORD · A DEMONSTRATIONArtc. 1760 to 1849

Filed under

Japanese printmaker, 1760 to 1849. [A5]Under the Wave off Kanagawa (also known as The Great Wave), artwork 24645, reference 1925.3245The Art Institute of Chicagoclass A · read 2026-07-28

Lifted off the impression

Color woodblock print, Shower Below the Summit, from Hokusai's series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, held by the Art Institute of Chicago.

[A9]The Art Institute of Chicagoc. 1830/33CC0 Public Domain Designationread 2026-07-29Downloaded the institution's IIIF derivative at 3000px width (IIIF master 8897 x 6158). Resized to 2400px long edge (fit inside, no enlargement) and encoded to WebP at quality 82. No cropping, rotation, retouching, or color adjustment.

The record

One name carries the catalog record. The working life behind it carries at least seven. [A8]Hokusai's Life (page 402 of the museum's Hokusai biography section)Sumida Hokusai Museum (Sumida City, Tokyo)class A · read 2026-07-28

Katsushika Hokusai

The record holds the working life of an Edo-period printmaker whom museum catalogs enter under a single name, though the institution most fully documenting his career records at least seven names across roughly seven decades of practice. [A8]Hokusai's Life (page 402 of the museum's Hokusai biography section)Sumida Hokusai Museum (Sumida City, Tokyo)class A · read 2026-07-28

Essay

What the sources describe

The record holds the working life of an Edo-period printmaker whom museum catalogs enter under a single name, though the institution most fully documenting his career records at least seven names across roughly seven decades of practice. [A8]Hokusai's Life (page 402 of the museum's Hokusai biography section)Sumida Hokusai Museum (Sumida City, Tokyo)class A · read 2026-07-28

Museum catalogs enter him uniformly as Katsushika Hokusai, Japanese, 1760 to 1849. [A5]Under the Wave off Kanagawa (also known as The Great Wave), artwork 24645, reference 1925.3245The Art Institute of Chicagoclass A · read 2026-07-28

The Sumida Hokusai Museum's own account of his working life records at least seven names across that life: Shunro after he entered the Katsukawa school, then Sori, then Hokusai Tatsumasa, then Katsushika Hokusai and Taito together in the 1804 to 1811 period, then Iitsu, then Manji from 1834 onward. [A8]Hokusai's Life (page 402 of the museum's Hokusai biography section)Sumida Hokusai Museum (Sumida City, Tokyo)class A · read 2026-07-28

The Art Institute of Chicago dates the design of Under the Wave off Kanagawa, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, to 1830 to 1833, and states in its own catalog description that the series began when he was seventy. [A5]Under the Wave off Kanagawa (also known as The Great Wave), artwork 24645, reference 1925.3245The Art Institute of Chicagoclass A · read 2026-07-28

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which holds a separate impression of the same print at accession JP1847, states in its own published essay that Hokusai was only one of the artists involved in making it, and that he is the only one of them whose name is now known. [A2]Essay: Hokusai and the Great WaveThe Metropolitan Museum of Artclass A · read 2026-07-28

The Metropolitan Museum's essay on the woodblock process states that a print of this kind required the collaboration of four experts: the designer, the engraver, the printer, and the publisher. [A3]Essay: Woodblock Prints in the Ukiyo-e StyleThe Metropolitan Museum of Artclass A · read 2026-07-28

One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji, a three-volume woodblock-printed book the Art Institute of Chicago catalogs as a complete set in its own collection, carries a first two volumes dated 1834 to 1835 and a third volume the museum dates to about 1849, the year of his death. [A6]One-Hundred Views of Fuji (Fugaku hyakkei), artwork 189659, reference 2022.631The Art Institute of Chicagoclass A · read 2026-07-28

The Hokusai Manga, a set of sketchbooks, was published in volumes from 1812 into 1878, per the Art Institute of Chicago's own cataloging of its incomplete run of a fifteen-volume set, which continued for decades after his death. [A7]Hokusai manga (Sketches of Hokusai), v. 1-3, 5-11, and 14 of 15, artwork 192276, reference 2007.628The Art Institute of Chicagoclass A · read 2026-07-28

Record boundary

What the sources establish

Sources read
9
Primary or institutional
9
Distinct sources cited on this page
8
Works of record
4

Where the sources do not settle a question, this record does not answer it. Nothing above is inferred from anything else on the page.

What the record declines

The Great Wave shows a tsunami.

The record declines to call it one. [A1]Under the Wave off Kanagawa, from Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (object 45434, JP1847)The Metropolitan Museum of Artclass A · read 2026-07-28

Checked: The institutions holding it title the print Under the Wave off Kanagawa. Neither the Metropolitan Museum's object page nor the Art Institute of Chicago's catalog entry consulted here uses the word tsunami for the wave shown.

The Great Wave is a painting, and one original exists.

The record declines both halves of that claim. [A1]Under the Wave off Kanagawa, from Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (object 45434, JP1847)The Metropolitan Museum of Artclass A · read 2026-07-28

Checked: The Metropolitan Museum's rights label for object JP1847 and the Art Institute of Chicago's catalog entry for object 1925.3245 both describe a woodblock print, not a painting, and each catalogs a separate impression rather than a sole surviving object.

Hokusai changed his art name about thirty times.

The record states only the count its own primary source supports. [A8]Hokusai's Life (page 402 of the museum's Hokusai biography section)Sumida Hokusai Museum (Sumida City, Tokyo)class A · read 2026-07-28

Checked: The Sumida Hokusai Museum's own account of his working life lists seven names across the timeline it publishes, and states no total count. This record follows that source and states no total either.

The Great Wave was published in one settled year.

The record states the range the institutions give, not a single year neither states outright. [A1]Under the Wave off Kanagawa, from Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (object 45434, JP1847)The Metropolitan Museum of Artclass A · read 2026-07-28

Checked: The Metropolitan Museum's object page dates the print ca. 1830 to 32. The Art Institute of Chicago's own display convention gives 1830/33 for the same print. Both are used here as the range.

The record

Katsushika Hokusai has a source page.

The same renderer a customer's published page mounts, drawing the same facts this room holds the sources for. Everything below is its apparatus.

View the record →sourceofyou.com/katsushika-hokusai
One record, two views

The apparatus

What stands behind the record: the works and who holds them, the claims this record refuses, every source read and when, and the gate stack this figure passed before a page was compiled.

Works

Works of record

Each work is listed with the institution that holds it and the rights statement that institution publishes, quoted as written.

c. 1830/33

Shower Below the Summit (Sanka hakuu), from Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji [A9]Shower Below the Summit (Sanka hakuu), from the series "Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjurokkei)"The Art Institute of Chicagoclass A · read 2026-07-29

Color woodblock print, oban. The Art Institute of Chicago holds this impression and catalogs the object under the CC0 Public Domain Designation. It is the same mountain as the first entry and the opposite weather: the summit in clear air above a storm, with the lightning printed in the dark skirt of the hill.

Held by
The Art Institute of Chicago
Rights, as published
CC0 Public Domain Designation

c. 1830 to 1833

Under the Wave off Kanagawa, from Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji [A5]Under the Wave off Kanagawa (also known as The Great Wave), artwork 24645, reference 1925.3245The Art Institute of Chicagoclass A · read 2026-07-28

Woodblock print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (JP1847) and the Art Institute of Chicago (1925.3245) each hold a separate impression, and both catalog the object public domain.

Held by
The Art Institute of Chicago
Rights, as published
API license_text, quoted verbatim: The description field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. All other data in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) 1.0 designation and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. The record's own is_public_domain field for this object returns true.

1834 to c. 1849

One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku hyakkei) [A6]One-Hundred Views of Fuji (Fugaku hyakkei), artwork 189659, reference 2022.631The Art Institute of Chicagoclass A · read 2026-07-28

Woodblock-printed book in three volumes. The Art Institute of Chicago catalogs its set complete and public domain.

Held by
The Art Institute of Chicago
Rights, as published
API license_text, quoted verbatim: The description field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. All other data in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) 1.0 designation and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. The record's own is_public_domain field for this object returns true.

1812 to 1878

Hokusai Manga (Sketches of Hokusai) [A7]Hokusai manga (Sketches of Hokusai), v. 1-3, 5-11, and 14 of 15, artwork 192276, reference 2007.628The Art Institute of Chicagoclass A · read 2026-07-28

A set of woodblock-printed sketchbooks issued in volumes, several after his death. The Art Institute of Chicago's holding runs volumes 1 through 3, 5 through 11, and 14 of a fifteen-volume set.

Held by
The Art Institute of Chicago
Rights, as published
API license_text, quoted verbatim: The description field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. All other data in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) 1.0 designation and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. The record's own is_public_domain field for this object returns true.
Sources

Sources

Class A is primary or institutional archival material. Class B is scholarly secondary work, cited with edition and page, and used only where class A could not be reached. Every source below was read at the URL given, on the date given.

  1. [A1]Class A

    Under the Wave off Kanagawa, from Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (object 45434, JP1847)

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art

    https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/45434read 2026-07-28

    Object page rights label, quoted: Public Domain (Metropolitan Museum of Art, object 45434, credit line H. O. Havemeyer Collection). The Museum's Open Access policy makes public-domain images available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee, and the collection API returns isPublicDomain true for this object.

  2. [A2]Class A

    Essay: Hokusai and the Great Wave

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art

    https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/hokusai-great-waveread 2026-07-28

    No public-domain or reuse-licence statement located for this essay's text (checked 2026-07-28). Used here only for the institution's own factual statement about the print's making, quoted directly and not reproduced beyond that quotation.

  3. [A3]Class A

    Essay: Woodblock Prints in the Ukiyo-e Style

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art

    https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/woodblock-prints-in-the-ukiyo-e-styleread 2026-07-28

    No public-domain or reuse-licence statement located for this essay's text (checked 2026-07-28). Used here only for the institution's own factual statement about the woodblock printmaking process, quoted directly.

  4. [A5]Class A

    Under the Wave off Kanagawa (also known as The Great Wave), artwork 24645, reference 1925.3245

    The Art Institute of Chicago

    https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/24645read 2026-07-28

    API license_text, quoted verbatim: The description field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. All other data in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) 1.0 designation and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. The record's own is_public_domain field for this object returns true.

  5. [A6]Class A

    One-Hundred Views of Fuji (Fugaku hyakkei), artwork 189659, reference 2022.631

    The Art Institute of Chicago

    https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/189659read 2026-07-28

    API license_text, quoted verbatim: The description field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. All other data in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) 1.0 designation and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. The record's own is_public_domain field for this object returns true.

  6. [A7]Class A

    Hokusai manga (Sketches of Hokusai), v. 1-3, 5-11, and 14 of 15, artwork 192276, reference 2007.628

    The Art Institute of Chicago

    https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/192276read 2026-07-28

    API license_text, quoted verbatim: The description field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. All other data in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) 1.0 designation and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. The record's own is_public_domain field for this object returns true.

  7. [A8]Class A

    Hokusai's Life (page 402 of the museum's Hokusai biography section)

    Sumida Hokusai Museum (Sumida City, Tokyo)

    https://hokusai-museum.jp/modules/Page/pages/view/402read 2026-07-28

    No public-domain or content-licence statement located on this biography page (checked 2026-07-28). Used here only for the institution's own stated dates and recorded art-name timeline; no image from this page is reproduced.

  8. [A9]Class A

    Shower Below the Summit (Sanka hakuu), from the series "Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjurokkei)"

    The Art Institute of Chicago

    https://www.artic.edu/artworks/87008/shower-below-the-summit-sanka-hakuu-from-the-series-thirty-six-views-of-mount-fuji-fugaku-sanjurokkeiread 2026-07-29

    CC0 Public Domain Designation

  9. [A10]Class A

    Hokusai as an old man

    Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art (Freer Gallery of Art)

    https://asia.si.edu/explore-art-culture/collections/search/edanmdm:fsg_F1904.282/read 2026-07-29

    CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0). This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

Clearance

How this record was cleared

Every record in the Hall passes the same gate stack before a page is compiled, and the result is published rather than merely filed.

Died
1849
Public domain basis
Hokusai died in 1849. Every work cited here was published before 1931 (Under the Wave off Kanagawa c. 1830 to 1833, One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji 1834 to c. 1849, the Hokusai Manga 1812 to 1878), so each is public domain in the United States under the pre-1931 publication rule, and separately under a life-plus term given a death 175 plus years ago. The Metropolitan Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago each independently label the specific objects used here public domain (sources A1, A5, A6, A7).
Estate and licensing screen
No enforcing estate or licensing agent screen returned a live claim (checked 2026-07-28). A person dead since 1849 predates any modern estate-management apparatus, and every work cited is cataloged public domain by three independent institutions.
Trademark screen
No live trademark collision found for Katsushika Hokusai or Hokusai against the institutional and public catalog sources checked (checked 2026-07-28). No noAffiliation clause required.
Dignity screen
The record states institutional facts about materials, collaborators, and publication dates, and declines every unsourced legend rather than repeat it as settled. No hardship is monetized and no line treats the subject as a villain or a joke.
Gate stack run
2026-07-28

The machine record

The structured representation this page is built from, printed field by field.

Every row below is a field of this figure's module, printed with its value and the citation key that settles it. Nothing here is summarised or inferred. It is shown as text for a reader: this page emits no machine-readable metadata, and it is excluded from the sitemap, from llms.txt, and from search indexes.

identity

slugkatsushika-hokusai
handlekatsushika-hokusai
nameKatsushika Hokusai
disciplineArt
entered2026-07-28
accent#12545E

claims

labelJapanese printmaker, 1760 to 1849. [A5]
turnOne name carries the catalog record. The working life behind it carries at least seven. [A8]
lifespanc. 1760 to 1849 [A8]
statementThe record holds the working life of an Edo-period printmaker whom museum catalogs enter under a single name, though the institution most fully documenting his career records at least seven names across roughly seven decades of practice. [A8]

story[7]

story[0]Museum catalogs enter him uniformly as Katsushika Hokusai, Japanese, 1760 to 1849. [A5]
story[1]The Sumida Hokusai Museum's own account of his working life records at least seven names across that life: Shunro after he entered the Katsukawa school, then Sori, then Hokusai Tatsumasa, then Katsushika Hokusai and Taito together in the 1804 to 1811 period, then Iitsu, then Manji from 1834 onward. [A8]
story[2]The Art Institute of Chicago dates the design of Under the Wave off Kanagawa, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, to 1830 to 1833, and states in its own catalog description that the series began when he was seventy. [A5]
story[3]The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which holds a separate impression of the same print at accession JP1847, states in its own published essay that Hokusai was only one of the artists involved in making it, and that he is the only one of them whose name is now known. [A2]
story[4]The Metropolitan Museum's essay on the woodblock process states that a print of this kind required the collaboration of four experts: the designer, the engraver, the printer, and the publisher. [A3]
story[5]One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji, a three-volume woodblock-printed book the Art Institute of Chicago catalogs as a complete set in its own collection, carries a first two volumes dated 1834 to 1835 and a third volume the museum dates to about 1849, the year of his death. [A6]
story[6]The Hokusai Manga, a set of sketchbooks, was published in volumes from 1812 into 1878, per the Art Institute of Chicago's own cataloging of its incomplete run of a fifteen-volume set, which continued for decades after his death. [A7]

schedule[8]

schedule[0] [A8]

span1760
titleRecorded birth year
detailInstitutional catalogs consulted here (the Art Institute of Chicago, the Sumida Hokusai Museum) give 1760 as his birth year. None states an exact day.

schedule[1] [A8]

span1778 to 1798
titleEarly names: Shunro, then Sori, then Hokusai Tatsumasa
detailPer the Sumida Hokusai Museum's account of his working life.

schedule[2] [A8]

span1804 to 1811
titleNames recorded: Katsushika Hokusai, and separately Taito
detailPer the same museum account. The name that became the catalog standard first appears in this window.

schedule[3] [A7]

span1812 to 1878
titleHokusai Manga published in volumes
detailThe Art Institute of Chicago's own holding runs volumes 1 through 3, 5 through 11, and 14 of a fifteen-volume set, published across this span.

schedule[4] [A8]

span1821 to 1823
titleName recorded: Iitsu
detailPer the Sumida Hokusai Museum's account.

schedule[5] [A5]

spanc. 1830 to 1833
titleUnder the Wave off Kanagawa designed
detailThe Art Institute of Chicago dates the design to this span and states the series began at about seventy.

schedule[6] [A6]

span1834 to c. 1849
titleOne Hundred Views of Mount Fuji published in three volumes
detailThe Art Institute of Chicago catalogs the set as complete: volumes one and two dated 1834 to 1835, volume three dated about 1849.

schedule[7] [A8]

span1849
titleDeath, spring
detailThe Sumida Hokusai Museum's account places his death in the spring of 1849, after illness, describing what it calls a ninety-year life by the traditional Japanese count.

figures[5]

figures[0] [A8]

label7 names
detailRecorded art names, per the Sumida Hokusai Museum's own account of his working life: Shunro, Sori, Hokusai Tatsumasa, Katsushika Hokusai, Taito, Iitsu, and Manji.

figures[1] [A5]

label~70
detailAge at Under the Wave off Kanagawa, stated directly in the Art Institute of Chicago's own catalog description of the series.

figures[2] [A7]

label15 volumes
detailHokusai Manga, total, per the Art Institute of Chicago's own cataloging of its incomplete holding (volumes 1 through 3, 5 through 11, and 14 of 15).

figures[3] [A6]

label3 volumes
detailOne Hundred Views of Mount Fuji, cataloged complete in the Art Institute of Chicago's own collection.

figures[4] [A8]

label89 years
detailRecorded lifespan by Western count, 1760 to 1849. The Sumida Hokusai Museum's own account describes a ninety-year life by the traditional Japanese count.

works[4]

works[0] [A9]

titleShower Below the Summit (Sanka hakuu), from Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji
yearc. 1830/33
noteColor woodblock print, oban. The Art Institute of Chicago holds this impression and catalogs the object under the CC0 Public Domain Designation. It is the same mountain as the first entry and the opposite weather: the summit in clear air above a storm, with the lightning printed in the dark skirt of the hill.
urlhttps://www.artic.edu/artworks/87008/shower-below-the-summit-sanka-hakuu-from-the-series-thirty-six-views-of-mount-fuji-fugaku-sanjurokkei

works[1] [A5]

titleUnder the Wave off Kanagawa, from Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji
yearc. 1830 to 1833
noteWoodblock print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (JP1847) and the Art Institute of Chicago (1925.3245) each hold a separate impression, and both catalog the object public domain.
urlhttps://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/45434

works[2] [A6]

titleOne Hundred Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku hyakkei)
year1834 to c. 1849
noteWoodblock-printed book in three volumes. The Art Institute of Chicago catalogs its set complete and public domain.
urlhttps://www.artic.edu/artworks/189659

works[3] [A7]

titleHokusai Manga (Sketches of Hokusai)
year1812 to 1878
noteA set of woodblock-printed sketchbooks issued in volumes, several after his death. The Art Institute of Chicago's holding runs volumes 1 through 3, 5 through 11, and 14 of a fifteen-volume set.
urlhttps://www.artic.edu/artworks/192276

answers[5]

answers[0] [A8]

qIs Hokusai his real name?
aNot by birth, and not his only one. The Sumida Hokusai Museum's account of his working life records at least seven names across his career, from Shunro in his youth to Manji late in life. Katsushika Hokusai is the one that became the catalog standard.

answers[1] [A3]

qDid Hokusai carve the block for Under the Wave off Kanagawa himself?
aNo. The Metropolitan Museum's own account of the woodblock process states a print of this kind required four experts: the designer, the engraver who carves the blocks, the printer, and the publisher. The part of the record that is his is the design.

answers[2] [A5]

qHow old was Hokusai when he made Under the Wave off Kanagawa?
aAbout seventy. The Art Institute of Chicago's catalog description states the series began at that age, against a print the museum dates to 1830 to 1833 and a recorded birth year of 1760.

answers[3] [A1]

qIs there a single original of the Great Wave to see in person?
aNo. It is a woodblock print, meaning impressions were pulled from the same carved blocks rather than painted once. The Metropolitan Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago each hold a separate impression, cataloged separately.

answers[4] [A7]

qDid Hokusai's output end when he died in 1849?
aThe record he left continued past that date in print. The Art Institute of Chicago catalogs the Hokusai Manga as published in volumes from 1812 into 1878, decades after his death.

declines[4]

declines[0] [A1]

mythThe Great Wave shows a tsunami.
refusalThe record declines to call it one.
checkedThe institutions holding it title the print Under the Wave off Kanagawa. Neither the Metropolitan Museum's object page nor the Art Institute of Chicago's catalog entry consulted here uses the word tsunami for the wave shown.

declines[1] [A1]

mythThe Great Wave is a painting, and one original exists.
refusalThe record declines both halves of that claim.
checkedThe Metropolitan Museum's rights label for object JP1847 and the Art Institute of Chicago's catalog entry for object 1925.3245 both describe a woodblock print, not a painting, and each catalogs a separate impression rather than a sole surviving object.

declines[2] [A8]

mythHokusai changed his art name about thirty times.
refusalThe record states only the count its own primary source supports.
checkedThe Sumida Hokusai Museum's own account of his working life lists seven names across the timeline it publishes, and states no total count. This record follows that source and states no total either.

declines[3] [A1]

mythThe Great Wave was published in one settled year.
refusalThe record states the range the institutions give, not a single year neither states outright.
checkedThe Metropolitan Museum's object page dates the print ca. 1830 to 32. The Art Institute of Chicago's own display convention gives 1830/33 for the same print. Both are used here as the range.

sources[9]

sources.A1 [A1]

clsA
institutionThe Metropolitan Museum of Art
titleUnder the Wave off Kanagawa, from Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (object 45434, JP1847)
urlhttps://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/45434
accessed2026-07-28
rightsObject page rights label, quoted: Public Domain (Metropolitan Museum of Art, object 45434, credit line H. O. Havemeyer Collection). The Museum's Open Access policy makes public-domain images available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee, and the collection API returns isPublicDomain true for this object.

sources.A2 [A2]

clsA
institutionThe Metropolitan Museum of Art
titleEssay: Hokusai and the Great Wave
urlhttps://www.metmuseum.org/essays/hokusai-great-wave
accessed2026-07-28
rightsNo public-domain or reuse-licence statement located for this essay's text (checked 2026-07-28). Used here only for the institution's own factual statement about the print's making, quoted directly and not reproduced beyond that quotation.

sources.A3 [A3]

clsA
institutionThe Metropolitan Museum of Art
titleEssay: Woodblock Prints in the Ukiyo-e Style
urlhttps://www.metmuseum.org/essays/woodblock-prints-in-the-ukiyo-e-style
accessed2026-07-28
rightsNo public-domain or reuse-licence statement located for this essay's text (checked 2026-07-28). Used here only for the institution's own factual statement about the woodblock printmaking process, quoted directly.

sources.A5 [A5]

clsA
institutionThe Art Institute of Chicago
titleUnder the Wave off Kanagawa (also known as The Great Wave), artwork 24645, reference 1925.3245
urlhttps://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/24645
accessed2026-07-28
rightsAPI license_text, quoted verbatim: The description field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. All other data in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) 1.0 designation and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. The record's own is_public_domain field for this object returns true.

sources.A6 [A6]

clsA
institutionThe Art Institute of Chicago
titleOne-Hundred Views of Fuji (Fugaku hyakkei), artwork 189659, reference 2022.631
urlhttps://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/189659
accessed2026-07-28
rightsAPI license_text, quoted verbatim: The description field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. All other data in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) 1.0 designation and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. The record's own is_public_domain field for this object returns true.

sources.A7 [A7]

clsA
institutionThe Art Institute of Chicago
titleHokusai manga (Sketches of Hokusai), v. 1-3, 5-11, and 14 of 15, artwork 192276, reference 2007.628
urlhttps://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/192276
accessed2026-07-28
rightsAPI license_text, quoted verbatim: The description field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. All other data in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) 1.0 designation and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. The record's own is_public_domain field for this object returns true.

sources.A8 [A8]

clsA
institutionSumida Hokusai Museum (Sumida City, Tokyo)
titleHokusai's Life (page 402 of the museum's Hokusai biography section)
urlhttps://hokusai-museum.jp/modules/Page/pages/view/402
accessed2026-07-28
rightsNo public-domain or content-licence statement located on this biography page (checked 2026-07-28). Used here only for the institution's own stated dates and recorded art-name timeline; no image from this page is reproduced.

sources.A9 [A9]

clsA
institutionThe Art Institute of Chicago
titleShower Below the Summit (Sanka hakuu), from the series "Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjurokkei)"
urlhttps://www.artic.edu/artworks/87008/shower-below-the-summit-sanka-hakuu-from-the-series-thirty-six-views-of-mount-fuji-fugaku-sanjurokkei
accessed2026-07-29
rightsCC0 Public Domain Designation

sources.A10 [A10]

clsA
institutionSmithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art (Freer Gallery of Art)
titleHokusai as an old man
urlhttps://asia.si.edu/explore-art-culture/collections/search/edanmdm:fsg_F1904.282/
accessed2026-07-29
rightsCC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0). This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

clearance

died1849
diedSrcA8
pdBasisHokusai died in 1849. Every work cited here was published before 1931 (Under the Wave off Kanagawa c. 1830 to 1833, One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji 1834 to c. 1849, the Hokusai Manga 1812 to 1878), so each is public domain in the United States under the pre-1931 publication rule, and separately under a life-plus term given a death 175 plus years ago. The Metropolitan Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago each independently label the specific objects used here public domain (sources A1, A5, A6, A7).
estateNo enforcing estate or licensing agent screen returned a live claim (checked 2026-07-28). A person dead since 1849 predates any modern estate-management apparatus, and every work cited is cataloged public domain by three independent institutions.
trademarkNo live trademark collision found for Katsushika Hokusai or Hokusai against the institutional and public catalog sources checked (checked 2026-07-28). No noAffiliation clause required.
dignityThe record states institutional facts about materials, collaborators, and publication dates, and declines every unsourced legend rather than repeat it as settled. No hardship is monetized and no line treats the subject as a villain or a joke.
checkedAt2026-07-28

HISTORICAL RECORD · A DEMONSTRATION

A demonstration record, compiled from public archives. Every line on this page carries its source. Katsushika Hokusai did not write it; the institutions cited here did.

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