My Hokusai manga obsession continues...

2025 has been a year with discoveries about Hokusai manga. At the Rare Books Reserve of the UCLouvain Libraries, where I work, a 1912 edition is preserved. It is not surprising that it is not an original edition, given the complex history of Hokusai manga, with multiple editions and even recut woodblocks since the first volume was issued in 1814. In fact, the first volume's blocks were already recut in 1828 !

The last recut occurred in 1907, and in June 2025, I had the priviledge of inspecting some of these woodblocks at the publishing house Unsōdō in Kyoto. At the time, I was in Japan for my ongoing research project on Japanese woodblock-printed painting manuals.

The red color woodblock for a page from the third volume of Hokusai manga.

I contributed a short article, in Dutch, on the complex publication history of Hokusai manga for the latest volume of Faro, a journal dedicated to cultural heritage in Flanders.

You can read the article here: https://issuu.com/faronet/docs/faro_tijdschrift_over_cultureel_erf_232b5873a21e04

Funding acknowledgements for the research trip:

• FNRS Research Stay Abroad Grant

• Mobility Grant INCAL UCLouvain