Tokyo ? An ominous blue wave crashing over snow-cloaked Mount Fuji. Designed nearly two centuries ago by creative genius Katsushika Hokusai, the iconic woodblock print remains as emblematic of Japan as sumo, sushi and samurai.

Now not just one, but two of the sublime originals are included in an unprecedented exhibition at the Tokyo National Museum that is perhaps the best, most comprehensive show ever organized of the country’s most famous artist.

And like noble Fuji in the frothy wave’s shadow, even a masterpiece like “The Great Wave” can seem overwhelmed in the sea of art on display. The mammoth exhibit, “Hokusai,” spans the prolific artist’s 70-year career, from his debut as a teenager to his death at age 89, uniting more than 500 pieces.

“Hokusai” runs in Tokyo through Dec. 4. Parts of the show will travel to the United States in March 2006 for a viewing at the Smithsonian Institution’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and Freer Gallery of Art, which together form the Washington museum’s Asian art collection.

The Tokyo selection is just a sliver of the 30,000 works churned out by Hokusai until his death in 1849.

But that sliver chronicles his progression from a youngster dabbling in the imported technique of perspective to a popular purveyor of “manga”-style illustrated books to a passionate master whose stylized, abstract designs influenced the impressionist movement and were avidly collected by such artists as Monet, Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec.

Visitors stop and view The

‘Mad About Art’

While the exhibit duly covers Hokusai’s familiar woodblock prints, also known as ukiyoe, it also features hanging scrolls, silk paintings, fan prints, illustrated books and drawings – which all confirm his sweeping talent. The genres range from mystical mountainscapes and kimono-clad courtesans to sword-wielding warriors, tormented ghosts and dainty flowers.

“Everyone knows Hokusai for his waves and Fuji prints,” said curator Hiroyoshi Tazawa, who spent five years searching for the best works from 79 different collections. “We wanted to freshen the image and show the whole Hokusai.”

Hokusai’s varied repertoire went hand-in-hand with his restless lifestyle. Cocky and bohemian, the artist changed homes 93 times, outlived two wives and used more than two dozen artist names, of which Hokusai is only one. In his later years, he stamped his works “Gakyorojin,” or “Old Man Mad About Art.”

Woodblock prints were once considered secondary to traditional Chinese ink painting, which was seen as high art in Japan. The vibrant pictures of famous sites in Tokyo or popular geishas were meant more as souvenirs or super-sized post cards.

“If Heaven had lent me but five years more, I would have become a great painter,” Hokusai complained on his deathbed.

Grandfather of the modern comic book

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Yet, modern critics agree he had long before achieved master status.

His acclaimed “36 Views of Mount Fuji” series, of which “The Great Wave” is the centerpiece, took nearly a decade to complete, starting in the 1820s. The Tokyo exhibit has 26 scenes from the series, including three Red Fujis, a print which like the Wave has become a commercial triumph, emblazoned on everything from T-shirts to coffee mugs worldwide.

The Fuji views took woodblock art to a new level by depicting what had been largely ignored by other printmakers: how a scene changes from moment to moment with the play of light, the turning of seasons and the vantage point of the viewer.

The museum also showcases Hokusai’s often overlooked role as a grandfather of the modern comic book.

Hokusai cranked out 15 volumes of manga sketches, featuring everyday vignettes – often humorous – of fish mongers, rice farmers, city merchants and children at play. He even published a book teaching aspiring fans how to draw like him.

“Hokusai is perhaps the foremost Japanese artist ever,” said David Caplan, a former board member of the Japan Ukiyoe Society who has collected and sold woodblock prints since 1968 as owner of Tokyo’s Mita Arts Gallery.

“The design, the placement, the humanity. It’s all there.”