4 ms·

Hokusai and Tesselations

151 points by srean 6mo ago

srean 6mo ago
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%2Fprdzoomst01.blob.core.windows.net%2Fescher-production-silverstripe-assets-public%2FUploads%2FImageBlock%2Fde-tweede-scheppingsdag_cat105-1.jpg&w=3840&q=75 https://escherinhetpaleis.nl/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fp...
p1anecrazy 6mo ago
Is there a way for non-Japanese speakers to experience this?
- srean 6mo ago
  I used google translate.
- omoikane 6mo ago
  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_1973-0723-0-57 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 6mo ago
  There is a i18n “English” button on top right. Unless you meant something else.
- gyomu 6mo ago
  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 https://arxiv.org/abs/1910.09433
l4tq3 6mo ago
[dead]
334t45 6mo ago
[dead]
lioeters 6mo ago
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. 北斎模様画譜 (1884) - Hokusai Pattern Book - https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ANDL854627_%E5%8C%97%E6%96%8E%E6%A8%A1%E6%A7%98%E7%94%BB%E8%AD%9C.pdf https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ANDL85...
- srean 6mo ago
  Could you check the URL ? I think something broke during the copy and paste
  - masfuerte 6mo ago
    https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:NDL854627_%E5%8C%97%E6%96%8E%E6%A8%A1%E6%A7%98%E7%94%BB%E8%AD%9C.pdf https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:NDL8546...
  - pentaphobe 6mo ago
    This seems to work https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ANDL854627_%E5%8C%97%E6%96%8E%E6%A8%A1%E6%A7%98%E7%94%BB%E8%AD%9C.pdf https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ANDL85...
  - lioeters 6mo ago
    Oops, I think it's fixed now. (;
    - srean 6mo ago
      They seem to have reversed how Japanese books flip.
- mrkpdl 6mo ago
  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 6mo ago
See also: https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/en/imagebank/theme/hokusaimoyo 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 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44224992
- srean 6mo ago
  Ah! This HN post must have been where I had seen this first. Thanks for the comment.
fmajid 6mo ago
There's an ongoing debate as to whether the Alhambra features all 17 plane symmetry groups. It would be interesting to see whether Hokusai did. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallpaper_group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallpaper_group

151 points by srean 6mo ago

srean 6mo ago

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%2Fprdzoomst01.blob.core.windows.net%2Fescher-production-silverstripe-assets-public%2FUploads%2FImageBlock%2Fde-tweede-scheppingsdag_cat105-1.jpg&w=3840&q=75 https://escherinhetpaleis.nl/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fp...

p1anecrazy 6mo ago

Is there a way for non-Japanese speakers to experience this?

srean 6mo ago
I used google translate.
omoikane 6mo ago
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_1973-0723-0-57 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 6mo ago
There is a i18n “English” button on top right. Unless you meant something else.
gyomu 6mo ago
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 https://arxiv.org/abs/1910.09433

l4tq3 6mo ago

[dead]

334t45 6mo ago

[dead]

lioeters 6mo ago

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. 北斎模様画譜 (1884) - Hokusai Pattern Book - https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ANDL854627_%E5%8C%97%E6%96%8E%E6%A8%A1%E6%A7%98%E7%94%BB%E8%AD%9C.pdf https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ANDL85...

srean 6mo ago
Could you check the URL ? I think something broke during the copy and paste
- masfuerte 6mo ago
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:NDL854627_%E5%8C%97%E6%96%8E%E6%A8%A1%E6%A7%98%E7%94%BB%E8%AD%9C.pdf https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:NDL8546...
- pentaphobe 6mo ago
  This seems to work https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ANDL854627_%E5%8C%97%E6%96%8E%E6%A8%A1%E6%A7%98%E7%94%BB%E8%AD%9C.pdf https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ANDL85...
- lioeters 6mo ago
  Oops, I think it's fixed now. (;
  - srean 6mo ago
    They seem to have reversed how Japanese books flip.
mrkpdl 6mo ago
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 6mo ago

See also: https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/en/imagebank/theme/hokusaimoyo 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 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44224992

srean 6mo ago
Ah! This HN post must have been where I had seen this first. Thanks for the comment.

fmajid 6mo ago

There's an ongoing debate as to whether the Alhambra features all 17 plane symmetry groups. It would be interesting to see whether Hokusai did. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallpaper_group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallpaper_group