Hokusai Color changing Sake cups

If you pour a cold drink below 17 degrees
The color of the pattern changes.

Returns to normal when normal temperature
is reached. Can be used repeatedly.

A vivid view of the four seasons.
Enjoy a moment of healing while enjoying the view.
Have a good time.

World-Renowned Master of Japanese Painting, Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai 1760 to 1849 was an artist active in the late Edo period and is regarded as one of the world’s great artists, comparable to Leonardo da Vinci.
In 1998, he was the only Japanese person selected by a major American newspaper as one of the 100 most significant figures in the world over the past 1,000 years.
He left behind as many as 30,000 works over the course of his life, yet even today only about half of them have been discovered.
He was not only a painter, but also a designer and educator. His representative ukiyo-e woodblock print series, Fugaku Forty-Six Views, was published when Hokusai was in his seventies.

Unlike hand-painted works, ukiyo-e woodblock prints are completed through the hands of carvers and printers based on the artist’s original drawing. At least 200 prints were made from a single woodblock.
Over the years, as different printers took over the work, the colors changed subtly. On top of that, exposure to sunlight caused the colors to fade, making it impossible today to see the colors exactly as they were when first created.
For that reason, it is necessary to preserve for future generations the colors as Hokusai originally painted them. That is the mission of the International Hokusai Society.
This time, focusing on Hokusai’s Fugaku Forty-Six Views, a source of pride for the Japanese people, and especially on three of its most iconic works, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, Fine Wind, Clear Morning, and Rainstorm Beneath the Summit, we identified the actual colors Hokusai used, reprinted them using techniques passed down since the Edo period, and revived them as hanging scrolls embodying the essence of Japanese culture.

Hiromi Yasui
Japan Fine Arts Academy
International Hokusai Society

- Fine Wind, Clear Sky -
There are many paintings of Mt. Fuji, but no other work depicts Mt. Fuji so majestically from the front like this. It is said that this painting shows Mt. Fuji just before it turns red in the morning sun.

- The Great Wave off Kanagawa -
Often said to be second only to Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa in fame, this masterpiece is also associated with composer Claude Debussy, who is said to have been so inspired by it that he composed his great symphonic work La Mer after hearing the sound of the sea within the image.

- White Rain Under the Mountain -
White Rain refers to a sudden shower that falls even while the sky remains clear. In this work, the area near the summit of Mt. Fuji is clear, while lightning flashes across the middle slope. Hokusai strikingly contrasts the brightness above with the deep darkness below. From what perspective did he envision this dramatic scene?