Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei)
Mitsui Shop at Surugachō in Edo
江都駿河町三井見世略図 · Edo Surugachō Mitsui mise ryaku zu
Katsushika Hokusai · c. 1830–32
What it is
Roofers work high on the roofs of the Mitsui shop at Surugachō in Edo, kites fly over the street, and Fuji rises between the gables.
Why it matters
Hokusai puts the city’s trade and its mountain on one sheet, the shop roofs leading straight to the peak.
What to notice
The two great roof slopes make a valley, and the mountain sits at the bottom of the V they form.
The busiest street in the picture has the mountain at the end of it.
The record
- Artist
- Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎 (1760–1849)
- Series
- Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei)
- Date
- c. 1830–32
- Publisher
- Nishimuraya Yohachi (Eijudō)
- Medium
- woodblock print; ink and color on paper
- Source
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art · JP1296
Impression note. The series sold well and was printed in large numbers. The first sheets lean on the newly imported Prussian blue, outlines included; later printings add colours and soften the key block. This is the largest clean open impression of the design the Met holds. Impression variance is real — printings differ in wiping and fading — and choosing the finest openly held impression is the curatorial act.
Public domain; faithfully reproduced.
Bring it home
Printed to order on EMA matte art paper, 200gsm.
From the same series
Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei)Under the Wave off Kanagawa (The Great Wave)Katsushika Hokusai · c. 1830–32
Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei)Fine Wind, Clear Morning (Red Fuji)Katsushika Hokusai · c. 1830–32
Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei)Thunderstorm Beneath the SummitKatsushika Hokusai · c. 1830–32
Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei)Kajikazawa in Kai ProvinceKatsushika Hokusai · c. 1830–32The road at your moment — Painted Earth’s ukiyo-e style pack.