Hokusai produced over 30,000 paintings, sketches and print designs and his famous “wave” image is one of the most recognizable and reproduced images in the history of art. 

Hokusai was born in 1760 to an artisan family living in Edo. His father was a mirror maker and his mother may have been a concubine. He began painting at the age of six. At age 12 he went to work in a bookshop, at age 14 he was apprenticed to a woodblock carver. And at the age of 18 he became a student of Katsukawa Shunsho.

When Shunshō died in 1793, Shunkō, who took over the school, expelled Hokusai. These art schools were very strict to their styles and  Hokusai was exploring art by studying at the rival Kanō school, studying european art, experimenting with landscapes and images of Japanese daily life. About being expelled, Hokusai said: "What really motivated the development of my artistic style was the embarrassment I suffered at Shunkō's hands”.