江戸の本所に生まれ、19歳ごろ浮世絵師・勝川春章の弟子になりました。役者絵、美人画、本の挿絵、絵手本など、あらゆる絵を描き、生涯に3万点をこえる作品を残したと言われます。70歳をこえてから出した《冨嶽三十六景》の《神奈川沖浪裏》は、世界で最もよく知られた日本美術の一つです。満88歳（数え年で90歳）で亡くなるまで、うまくなりたいと願いつづけました。
Hokusai was born in Honjo, Edo. At about 19, he became a pupil of the ukiyo-e artist Katsukawa Shunshō. He drew everything: actors, beauties, book illustrations and drawing manuals. He is said to have made over 30,000 works in his life. In his seventies, he made Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, including The Great Wave off Kanagawa, one of the best-known images in Japanese art. He kept trying to improve until he died at 88 (90 by traditional Japanese counting).
