Exploring Hokusai’s ‘The Great Picture Book of Everything’ in Edo-period Japan and beyond

Delve into the tradition and development of encyclopedias – or 'picture books of everything' – in Edo-period Japan.

In this event, you'll explore the history of education in Japan in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and discover how knowledge was made available via a huge range of books through a highly developed and competitive publishing industry.

Speakers Dr Ellis Tinios, Dr Alessandro Bianchi and Dr Rosina Buckland will also discuss Japan's earliest encyclopedias dating back to the 1660s, how Hokusai's The Great Picture Book of Everything fits into this tradition, and in what ways Japanese encyclopedias compared with similar projects in Europe.

This event is part of the public programme accompanying Hokusai: The Great Picture Book of Everything at the British Museum (30 September – 30 January), sponsored by The Asahi Shimbun. The public programme is supported by the Japan Society.

More information about the exhibition can be found here: https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/hokusai-great-picture-book-everything

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Image credit:
Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), 'Daoist master Zhou Sheng ascends a cloud-ladder to the moon' (The Great Picture Book of Everything). Block-ready drawing, ink on paper, Japan, 1820s–40s. Purchase funded by the Theresia Gerda Buch Bequest, in memory of her parents Rudolph and Julie Buch, with support from Art Fund (with a contribution from the Wolfson Foundation). © 2021 The Trustees of the British Museum.