context: painting > prints > technical > the cutter

Hokusai and Engraving

The following is from a letter from Hokusai to publishers, as reproduced in Edmond de Goncourt's 'Hokusai'. Sakyamuni was published in 1939, when Hokusai was nearly 80 (he lived a further decade). This shows that at least this artist was hugely concerned about the effect the cutting would have on his work.

As for the book of Warriors, I beg you, all three, to give it to Yegawa Tomekiti. As for the price, you must arrange that directly with him. The reason I absolutely insist that the engraving should be done by Yegawa is that both the Manga and the Poems - although certainly the two works are well engraved - are far from having the perfection of the three volumes of the Fujiyama, engraved by him. Now if my design is engraved by a good engraver, that encourages me to work, and if the book is a success, that is to your advantage too, because it brings you more income. Just because I recommend Yegawa so warmly to you, don't go thinking it is to get any commission: what I am after is clarity of execution, and this is a satisfaction you can well give to an old man who has not very much farther to go. As for The Story Of Sakyamuni, Soubanzo promised me to have it engraved by Yegawa, and I have based my drawings on this choice: the way the Indians wind their hair being very difficult to engrave, and even the shape of their bodies, there is absolutely no one but Yegawa who could carry out this work.