"Hokusai Manga" (北斎漫画), Original Japanese Movie Poster 1981, B2 Size (51 × 73 cm) N64A
This is an original Japanese B2 poster printed in 1981 for the first theatrical release of Hokusai Manga (北斎漫画), Kaneto Shindō’s visually rich biographical drama on the life and artistic imagination of Katsushika Hokusai. Issued by Shochiku, the film stars Ken Ogata, Yūko Tanaka, Toshiyuki Nishida, and Kanako Higuchi, and remains one of the most distinctive cinematic treatments of a major Japanese artist. Original Japanese posters for the film are highly collectible, and this is the classic principal release design, combining historical portraiture, calligraphic typography, and imagery drawn directly from Hokusai’s most celebrated—and controversial—body of work.
Film background
Released in 1981, Hokusai Manga was written and directed by Kaneto Shindō, one of the most important figures in post-war Japanese cinema, best known internationally for works such as Onibaba and Kuroneko. Rather than presenting a conventional academic biography, the film approaches Hokusai through a mixture of drama, sensuality, humour, and artistic obsession, evoking the restless energy of the ukiyo-e master’s life and imagination.
The film focuses on Hokusai in later life, exploring his relentless creative drive, his fascination with the human body, and the world of pleasure, performance, and popular culture that fed his art. It is also notable for its strong performances, especially from Ken Ogata as Hokusai and Yūko Tanaka as his daughter Ōei, herself an important artistic figure. Internationally, the film became known under the title Edo Porn, though the original Japanese title more properly situates it within the broader visual and narrative tradition associated with Hokusai’s sketchbooks and graphic imagination.
Poster design
This is a striking and highly memorable Japanese release design. The composition is divided into two contrasting visual fields. The upper section, set against a rich metallic-gold background, is dominated by the title 北斎漫画 in bold black brush-style calligraphy, accompanied by cast and production credits in vertical Japanese text. Photographic images of the principal characters are arranged across the upper half, with Ken Ogata seated pensively at centre and supporting cast members placed around him in costume.
The lower half reproduces, at large scale, imagery derived from Hokusai’s famous erotic print The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife, one of the best-known works in the history of Japanese shunga. In front of this appears a crouching image of Ken Ogata as Hokusai, sketching at ground level, visually linking the historical artist to the artwork behind him. The result is both theatrical and intelligent: a poster that functions not only as film advertising, but also as a meditation on artistic creation, censorship, desire, and the myth of Hokusai himself.
For collectors, this is exactly what makes the piece so appealing: it is a country-of-origin Japanese first-release poster for an important art-house film, with unusually bold imagery and a strong connection to both Japanese cinema and Japanese art history.
Condition
Very Good / Excellent. Please review the photos—they show the exact poster for sale.
This poster is an original Japanese theatrical B2 from the 1981 first-release campaign.
It is not a reproduction or a reprint.
It is over 45 years old!
Certificate of Authenticity included.
