[HN Gopher] Hokusai and Tesselations
___________________________________________________________________
Hokusai and Tesselations
Author : srean
Score : 114 points
Date : 2026-04-25 17:21 UTC (17 hours ago)
HTML web link (dl.ndl.go.jp)
TEXT w3m dump (dl.ndl.go.jp)
| srean wrote:
| Escher invoking Hokusai in his sixties
|
| "Ideally I would spend a whole year on a freighter watching the
| waves. If God himself, in honour of my 60th birthday, would give
| me the strength and the power and the glory, now and forever, to
| draw a beautiful wave. But no, nothing like that. As soon as I
| got home I tried it, to no avail. I started spirals instead. That
| at least gave me something to go on. Drawing waves--those
| apparently shapeless, chaotic glories--is something I will have
| to leave to you and your (almost ex-)compatriots."
|
| https://escherinhetpaleis.nl/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fp...
| p1anecrazy wrote:
| Is there a way for non-Japanese speakers to experience this?
| srean wrote:
| I used google translate.
| omoikane wrote:
| It's mostly pictures and not much text, except for the initial
| popup you see which is the usual cookie consent prompt (left
| button = minimum required, right button = agree to all). But
| looks like British Museum also has this book if you want an
| English interface:
|
| https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1973-0723-...
|
| If you are asking about the text written on the pages
| themselves, it takes a bit more effort unless you are familiar
| with archaic script. I can make out some of them as guidelines
| on how to draw the patterns.
| srik wrote:
| There is a i18n "English" button on top right. Unless you meant
| something else.
| gyomu wrote:
| If it makes you feel better, the vast majority of modern day
| Japanese speakers cannot read this either.
|
| It is cursive script, and only specialized academics/people
| with extensive training in calligraphy/etc. would know how to
| read it.
|
| Interestingly enough this is an area where machine learning has
| been extremely effective:
|
| https://arxiv.org/abs/1910.09433
| lioeters wrote:
| Found a copy of the book on Wikimedia. It was originaly published
| as a pattern book for kimono textile, then rediscovered in 1986
| in a collection at the Boston Museum. Since then art historians
| in Japan found further prints.
|
| Bei Zhai Mo Yang Hua Pu (1884) - Hokusai Pattern Book -
| https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ANDL85...
| srean wrote:
| Could you check the URL ? I think something broke during the
| copy and paste
| masfuerte wrote:
| https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:NDL8546.
| ..
| pentaphobe wrote:
| This seems to work
|
| https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ANDL85.
| ..
| lioeters wrote:
| Oops, I think it's fixed now. (;
| srean wrote:
| They seem to have reversed how Japanese books flip.
| mrkpdl wrote:
| You can download a full resolution pdf of the book at the
| original posts's link, which is much better quality than the
| one on Wikimedia.
|
| I used safari's built in translate feature to translate the
| page from Japanese to English, scroll down for download
| options.
| cubefox wrote:
| See also:
|
| https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/en/imagebank/theme/hokusaimoyo
|
| Hokusai Moyo Gafu: an album of dyeing patterns (ndl.go.jp) 170
| points by fanf2 10 months ago
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44224992
| srean wrote:
| Ah! This HN post must have been where I had seen this first.
| Thanks for the comment.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2026-04-26 11:00 UTC)