Artist paints Lovecraft's Great Old Ones into all 46 of Hokusai's woodblock prints

Katsushika Hokusai drew tentacled sea creatures in the 1800s. H.P. Lovecraft built a mythology around them in the 1920s. Japanese illustrator Goki Yamada has now put them together in Thirty-six Views of Evil Gods (邪神三十六景), a 128-page art book that inserts Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep, and other Great Old Ones into every plate of Hokusai's famous ukiyo-e series "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji" — the woodblock prints that gave us "The Great Wave off Kanagawa."

Yamada, a Kanagawa-based graphic designer who goes by Goking, has been posting these mashups online and in self-published zines for years. His previous book, Cthulhu Mythos Creature Anatomy Guide, offered kaiju-style anatomical cross-sections of Lovecraftian gods and has been translated into multiple languages. The new collection covers all 46 plates — the original 36 plus 10 bonus prints Hokusai added when the series became a hit — with nine previously unpublished pieces and commentary from the artist.

The illustrations keep Hokusai's compositions and muted color palette intact while slipping eldritch abominations into the landscapes: a toad monster rising from a riverbed, a crawling chaos perched on a sacred mountain, a sea beast emerging alongside a meteorite. Published by Tokyo-based Two Virgins, the book is ¥3,080 (about $20). T-shirts, art prints, and a desk mat are also available.

Previously:

• Where you can see original prints of Hokusai's Great Wave
• Japanese woodcut artisan makes iconic David Bowie mashups