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*Mad about Manga*

Okay,I'm positive that most of you already know what manga is, and if you do you have to love it. But do you ever wonder where it came from? Well....Here is everything you'll ever need to know about manga:)



Here's the deal. If you've ever seen anime you have basically seen a whisp of the artistic value of manga. Manga is an extremely elaborated version of anime. It is typically hand drawn as the tradition has been for many years, though now many are computer edited. Yet, as unbelievable as it is manga was created over one hundred years ago by a world famous japanese artist named Hokusai. It's pretty obvious though that he probably didn't draw (basically) elaborate anime charactors with big eyes and even bigger chests.Mostly he did land and seascapes. Hokusai Katsushika (1760-1849) Hokusai was born in the autumn of 1760 at Honjo Warigesui, in Katsushika of Shimosa Province, very close to old Edo, now Katsushika ward of the city of Tokyo. In later years, Hokusai called himself "the farmer of Katsushika" and often used Katsushika in place of his family name.Even at age ten he was learning woodblock carving. He was soon working at a library, and continued his study of painting and drawing from the picture books he found in the library. At nineteen, he was enrolled in the school of Katsukawa Shunsho, the leading woodblock artisan of the time, who specialized in portraits of popular actors. At this time, he was given the name De Brosse of Shunro. Using this name he mainly made book covers and actor portraits. In 1792 Hokusai left the school because of a quarrel with the master's successor, Shunko. This was a large turning point in his life. Despite poverty, he continued his studies, mostly on the techniques of the schools of Kano Yusen, Tsutsumi Torin, and Sumiyoshi Naiki. He was also quite interested in the examples of Western art that was introduced into Japan through the Dutch establishment in Nagasaki. More than thirty times in his career he changed his name, some seen were the names Shunro, Sori, and finally Hokusai. After seeking his true calling, he settled on landscape painting in approximately 1798, clearly inspired by engravings brought in by the Dutch. at this time he gave the name Sori to his most promising student and took for himself the name of Hokusai. From this time in mid age, he avidly observed and sketched much in the in the surrounding world , publishing the results, starting in 1814, in a series known as THE HOKUSAI MANGA (sketchbooks). During his lifetime, the series became twelve volumes. From 1823 to 1831, he worked on a series of thirty six portraits of mount Fujishima.Although his greatest known work was "The Wave",A painting of the shores of Japan, I truly believe that his best work ever was the Hokusai manga. Though it was not immediately depicted as adorable human creatures with large eyes, It somehow opened a link between his onlooking artists and himself. I'm sure that many other artists have published art renderings called "The Manga" for the word in Japanese simply means art, or close to that effect. Though I am not sure who exactly first drew manga as it is today, I also believe he is what brought out the creativity and passion in later artists such as Ramiko Takahashi,Hitoshi Iwakki, and my own favorite Naoko Takeuchi. It was rumored that once he was called upon by an emporer to paint a god on the court ground, and Hokusai creatively painted the entire thing with a peasants broom. Though he is not the one who began manga,to me he is the one one who inspired it. In his own way his passion for art scratched out the factors of artistic popularity, such as gender, allowing some of our favorite female artists such as CLAMP and Naoko Takeuchi to inspire our generation to love art as much as we do. In conclusion I would like to quote the last words of Hokusai"If heaven gives me ten more years or even five more years,I shall surely become a true artist." I hope this teaches you to appreciate and savor time as much as you can.Because it has me, and LO! manga was inspired by his works.