1786
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
The Nezu Gongen Shrine is a 1786 by Katsushika Hokusai, a Japonisme work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This is a detailed drawing of a shrine building with curved roofs and wooden beams. The lines are crisp and precise, showing Hokusai’s early style before he became famous. Hokusai made this in 1785-1787 for a woodblock print. It’s one of his early works signed “Shunro,” before he changed his name. The drawing guided wood carvers who cut the image into blocks. Try sketching like this at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
This final drawing for a woodblock print, created during Hokusai's Shunro period (1779–1794), is one of the earliest known signed works from this phase. Measuring in chuban size, it bears the artist's signature "Shunro ga," a mark he used from 1784 onward. The work belongs to a group of ten early drawings associated with this period. It was acquired in 1910 from Mr. Hogitaro Inada and is part of the museum's collection.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Katsushika Hokusai spent his life in Edo, now Tokyo, where he drew and carved prints for a living.
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