Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei)
Umezawa Manor in Sagami Province
相州梅沢左 · Sōshū Umezawa-no-hidari
Katsushika Hokusai · c. 1830–32
What it is
Cranes stand and lift from the marsh at Umezawa while Mount Fuji rises in blue above two bands of cloud.
Why it matters
Fuji had been tied to the elixir of life since The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, and Hokusai, in his seventies when he made this series, came back to the mountain forty-six times.
What to notice
The summit sits above the cloud rather than behind it, so the mountain belongs to the sky more than to the marsh where the birds are.
The quietest sheet in the series asks the least of its mountain and gets the most.
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 · JP20
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.