Hokusai Manga (Japanese and Japanese Edition)

This is a nice book, with great paper and even a nice little obi to go along with it. More could have been used for the size of the book, though. This book includes b & w originals and enlarged red images. The black and white illustrations are in original size, making them sit awkwardly in the middle of the page. This is a fundamental bad design though- often, the images, being in the middle, are put in the gutter. The gutter is the part where the book is binded, so the middle of the images are cut off. It's like putting an important image in a magazine right in the middle, between the two pages- it gets cut off and distorted. Not good. A lot of Hokusai's animals- my favorites like the lion in the snow, were put in the gutter, and thus cut off. It doesn't make sense, though- with the size of this book, many of the images cut off in the gutter could have just been put on one side of a page. They don't have to be put in the middle with so much room...The best thing about this book is very minimal writing. As one studying to be a tattoo artist in the future, all of the refernce material is nicely uninterrupted by text. However, this will be a book where the reference is hard to find, as this book is unpaginated entirely. Also, images are organized my which of the 15 manga they belong to. With unpaginated pages, they should have just put everything in order by subject. The animals I'll use for reference are all over the place!This book is over 600 pages, but it's really only about 400 in terms of material. This is why the book mainly gets three stars. I was hoping for over 600 pages in materials- this would amount to atleast 2/3 of the total manga. There was a 623 page version printed in Japan (not talking about the huge 900 page versions), and I was hoping this would be just like it. I was wrong. The red images are really nice, but they're just reproductions of other existing images in the book. They're like previews before the b & w images. This is one of my gripes as soon as I opened the book- pages where only one or two red images were reproduced could have been used for more material. It was kind of a waste. I'd recommend putting the big red reproductions as the main images in the book( since the originals are quite small), and using the remaining space for more Hokusai manga. You're not really getting a 623 page book. I'd recommend the Carlo edition (with the Wave of Kanagawa as the cover), which is 520 pages, and the black and white illustrations are much bigger than original size- that book is huge, but atleast the images are big enough to match it!A great book that is a wonder to look through and will greatly help my tattoo ideas, but so much potential is wasted. I was really looking towards what seemed like the biggest English language edition of the mangas- without paying over $100 for an imported Japanese version- but looks like I'll be waiting.

When I was traveling in Japan, I saw this almost 400 page book and would have purchased it except that there was no room left in the suitcases. As it turned out, it was a good decision since Amazon offers it for almost half the price I would have paid in Japan. It is interesting art with the stress being on people, though there are numerous illustrations of insects, fish, animals, and landscape. Most of the people shown are as being normal, though many are in contorted positions. Some art shows grotesque figures, as for example, legs as long as five foot stilts! The edition offered by Amazon also includes a translation into English to give more depth to the thousands of artistic renderings. The best reproductions in my estimation are those which are in black and white, with flesh tones. There are also a large number of pages that show the drawings in red ink with most being less clear than the black/white art work. I understand that the illustrations here are from the fifteen original books produced in Japan in the 19th century - not every illustration, but surely enough, thousands of them, to educate and intrigue most artists and collectors. To purchase copies of the 15 original books would cost a small fortune. I know - I saw used facsimile copies of some volumes for sale at a museum store in Osaka. The volume offered by Amazon is a well-made paperback - I don't believe a hard cover edition is available - but even as it is the book weighs over four pounds, and measures 8" x 12" x 2" thick! The non-glare paper seems to have been selected especially for these drawings. It is a great value for those interested in Hokusai, or Japanese woodblock art, or for the younger generation, Japanese Manga. GJV

Humorous, grotesque, and realistic images, reproduced in various sizes on print-style matte paper. Great artist, wonderful print quality, and a whole lot of fun.

Regarding the book I received "Hokusai Manga), I enjoyed the fact that examples from most of Hokusai's Manga were included in the book. I appreciated the expanded views of many of the images from the Manga books, as a person who relishes varied art forms, it fascinates me to study the skills and imagination of major artists such as the great Hokusai. I hope that, one day, I will have access to all of the 15 books - I have book copies of a lot of his coloured works and possess the recently book "Hokusai's Lost Manga". Thank-you, from Trefor Barnes.

This book is amazing, really beuatiful.It's also really big, wich I didn't expect.If you like Hokusai, then buy this book.His manga were the rawest drawings he made and are an example for manga in Japan, as well as the foundation for illustration in the West.For this price, you can't just click this book and not buy it.

Not the original Hokusai Manga. It inserts some expanden drawigs in red ink between the original pages. Does not justify its huge size. It's more like a coffee table book about Hokusai Manga.

I happen to work in a library where we have an original edition of the Hokusai Manga. When I saw that I could enjoy this collect from home I didn't hesitate! One of the best collections of Hokusai prints ever. It's a must for any library be it personal or public.

This book was so well put together. I use it as a reference, and have it on my coffee table.

Un livre au dessus de 40€ peut être considéré comme un beau livre. Et ceux qui aiment le dessin en retrouveront une quantité incroyable. Les détails et autres zoom sur des éléments permettent d'apprécier le trait. L'éloge d'Hokusai n'est plus à faire, et cette réédition en rend bien compte. Mais ne commencez pas ce livre chez Amazon. Il vous arrivera non protégé, dans un carton avec du papier froissé pour éviter les heurts. Insuffisant. Un coin a ramassé, pas grave en soi, mais certains amateurs de livres, espèrent acheter des livres impeccables et non d'occasion. Amazon ne sait pas envoyé les beaux livres.

Tremendo libro, deja mucho detalle al dibujo y a los grabados que se realizaron.

Hokusai Manga is essential for anyone interested in Japanese art prints, the work shows the sketchbooks of Hokusai, the drawings range from what the man saw in daily life and everything in his head, birds, plants, home objects, people and facial expressions, landscapes, mythical beasts and creatures and even how to draw instructions. however as there are over a thousand images spread across 15 volumes of Hokusai's Manga, getting them all in one book would be a mammoth task! i understand that there are various collections of some of Hokusai's Manga series, some are printed closer to the original style of black and skin colour and even manage to replicate the page texture of the originals, but these editions are often over the £100 mark.This edition prints the images in red and also black, some might say that this looks wrong but there is a theme to the whole book and i think it works well, the size of the book is immense and well worth the price that Amazon normally offer it for, the pages are of a cartridge paper feel and are finished matte which keeps the images looking more as they should have been originally in a sketchbook.I would say that this book is a good introduction to Hokusai's Manga series for the reasonable price that Amazon offers of around £30, considering its size and the sheer volume of work it shows it gives you a good starting point to research and maybe eventually work your way up to the more expensive versions of this huge series.a worthwhile edition to any Japanese enthusiast's bookshelfThanksBananajim

Perfekt!

È in edizione giapponese - inglese, il formato è veramente grande e la qualità dei materiali è assoluta. L'ho preso scontato a poco più di 30 euro e a questo prezzo è davvero un affare clamoroso, se vi capiterà l'occasione non esitate. La copertina è molto delicata e può facilmente rovinarsi con il trasporto, nel mio caso fortunatamente è arrivata integra.Si trova anche una versione in italiano dello stesso libro ma i prezzi sono maggiorati, se si conosce un minimo l'inglese consiglio assolutamente questa versione