In his childhood, he was adopted as a son by Ise NAKAJIMA, an artist of bronze mirrors of the shogunate's official business, but later Nakajima transferred the family estate to his real son, so Hokusai left the Nakajima family.
幼くして、幕府御用達銅鏡鏡師であった中島伊勢の養子となったが、のち、実子に家督を譲り、家を出る。