The passage discusses the influence of Japanese printmaker Hokusai on the French artist Edgar Degas and the Impressionist movement. While Degas considered himself a realist rather than an Impressionist, he was influenced by Hokusai's use of color, line, and perspective to depict the human form. Hokusai's prints represented a departure from traditional Western techniques and helped inspire Impressionism. Without Hokusai's influence, Impressionism may not have emerged as it did.