Woodcuts, drawings, illustrated books, and paintings by Hokusai are for the first time exhibited as part of a major retrospective of the Japanese artist in Germany. The exhibition is curated by Seiji Nagata, a leading authority on Hokusai's life and artwork, and displays over 350 loans from Japan and overseas. The retrospective covers Hokusai's 70-year long creative activity, and includes rare works that have never been shown outside of Japan and were created under some of the thirty pseudonyms the artist used during his lifetime. Hokusai was born in Honjo, in the Edo district in 1760. He is most renowned for his woodblock print series Thirty Six View of Mount Fuji which includes the world-famous Great Wave of Kanagawa created in the 1820's. This exhibition is organized by Berliner Festspiele and Martin-Gropius-Bau. Together with the Japan Foundation, the Japanisch-Deutsches Zentrum Berlin (JDZB), Sumida City and Nikkei Inc. With special support by the Ishibashi Foundation. Under the auspices of the Embassy of Japan as part of a series of events to mark “150 Years of German-Japanese Friendship”. Image courtesy of Sumida City