1814年，日本伟大的艺术家和版画家葛饰北斋（1760年-1894年）出版了他素描手册的**册：《北斋漫画》。北斋的初衷是为他学生的模仿作画提供一本参考书，结果这本书超出了所有人的期待，成了一本畅销书，最后扩展到了15册，4000多张图像。

这个三册版囊括了北斋的大量素描，展示了在他艺术作品中发现的所有主题和技巧。虽然这些素描不是基于一个不断发展的故事，但这些漫画、讽刺画和多屏插画显然可以像今天人们所理解的那样被视为日本漫画的先驱。

**册探讨了“江户生活”，这个后来成为东京的城市的日常世界，展示了各行各业的人们在工作和娱乐活动中的样子。第二册的主题是“自然奇观”，包括动物、鸟和鱼，以及景观、天气和自然美景。最后，第三册“异想天开”充满了神话中的动物、超自然生物和这位大师想象中的各种奇怪和精彩的意象。重新发现这部为两个世纪的艺术家和艺术爱好者们带去过陶醉和灵感的作品集的时机已经成熟。

In 1814, Hokusai’s sketches were published in a handbook of over 4,000 images: Hokusai Manga. It surpassed expectations as a student reference book, and became a bestseller. Here, in an elegant, three-volume package, an expansive selection of these works are revealed, presenting all of the themes, motifs and drawing techniques found in his art. The caricatures, satirical drawings, multi-panel illustrations and narrative depictions found in the book can clearly be seen as the basis for manga as it is understood today. One volume explores The Life and Manners of the Day (studying habits and objects of the everyday, from architectural features to wrestling moves and facial expressions); the second The Whole Earth Catalogue (largely concerned with nature, from animals to rock faces and fish); and the third presents the Fanciful, Mythical and Supernatural (with images narrating myths and displaying fantastical creatures).