The Floating World

Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei)

The New Fields at Ōno in Suruga Province

駿州大野新田 · Sunshū Ōno shinden

Katsushika Hokusai · c. 1830–32

What it is

Oxen loaded with bundles of reeds plod through the new fields at Ōno, cranes stand in the marsh, and Fuji rises large behind.

Why it matters

One of the ten added designs, it shows farmland worked at the foot of the mountain.

What to notice

The heavy loads on the oxen’s backs echo the mountain’s outline: a small cone moving under a large one.

New land, old mountain.

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 · JP1456

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

The road at your moment — Painted Earth’s ukiyo-e style pack.