One of the most influential figures in European modern culture never set foot in Europe. But a few years after his death in 1849, when the “black ships” of Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into what’s now Tokyo Bay, Japan’s markets were forcibly opened, and Hokusai’s woodblocks started to flutter over the ocean. In France, in Britain, and soon in America, a whole new kind of art would emerge: born in Tokyo, spanning the whole world. Beautiful and bloated by turns (but well worth the trip), it makes ample use of the MFA’s unparalleled collection of Japanese art. Here you will see more than 100 of Hokusai’s prints, paintings and manga — literally “whimsical sketches” of bathers and courtesans and birds and beasts, which Hokusai published in 15 best-selling volumes.

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Persons: Katsushika, Matthew Perry, Hokusai’s woodblocks, Hokusai Organizations: Mount Fuji, Museum of Fine Arts, Mount, Fuji Locations: Europe, Edo Japan, what’s, Tokyo, France, Britain, America, Boston, American