Self-Portrait as a Fisherman

Katsushika Hokusai depicts himself sitting contentedly on a rocky coastline with his legs wrapped around a fishing pole. This print is of the genre of ukiyo-e prints called surimono. They were traditionally printed as private commissions for special occasions with an image and a poem. These poems were written specifically to complement the image. Hokusai and his third daughter, Katsushika Ōi, wrote the poems featured in the upper right corner.