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How did Hokusai depict ordinary people and daily activities in his prints?

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The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai shows a towering blue wave threatening boats, with Mount Fuji visible in the background. — Japanese art *The Breaking Wave off Kanagawa*, woodblock colour print by Hokusai, from the series *Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji*, 1826–33.

In the context of ukiyo-e art, Hokusai depicted ordinary people and daily activities through a diverse range of formats, including single-sheet prints, picture books, and instructional copybooks like the famous Hokusai manga.1

While his early career focused on traditional subjects such as kabuki actors and women, his later work shifted toward historical, didactic, and landscape themes. In these mature works, figures often became of secondary interest to the broader landscape or historical scene. However, his commitment to observing the world remained constant; he famously described a lifelong "mania for sketching the forms of things," eventually seeking to capture the "vital nature" of animals, plants, and human life.1

Unlike some of his contemporaries who focused on the idealized beauty of the "floating world," Hokusai’s later output—particularly his wood-block-printed copybooks—was designed for amateur artists, providing a window into his observations of everyday life and the natural world. His approach emphasized a powerful, energetic style that moved away from the delicate, voluptuous figure prints popular in earlier ukiyo-e traditions.1