Hokusai Cats

Hokusai, "Tiger in the Snow" (1849)

Last week I posted some images of birds by the Japanese artist Hokusai (1760-1849). Today I'll add some images of cats from his remarkable number of woodblock prints, notebooks full of sketches, and various paintings. Hokusai was enormously productive throughout his long life: his work includes over 30,000 paintings, sketches, woodblock prints, and images for picture books.

First, you have almost certainly seen Hokusai's most famous work, which is widely reproduced and often parodied or imitated.

Hokusai, "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" from 36 Views of Mount Fuji.

Hokusai’s Cats

Blog post by mae sander 2025, shared with Eileen’s Critters.