Tōto Surugadai
Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji
Katsushika Hokusai
Artwork Description
This scene depicts Surugadai, an elevated plateau in the Kanda district of Edo. The area was associated with retainers connected to Sunpu Castle and became a residential zone for shogunate officials. Its height provided clear views toward Mount Fuji.
The composition is organized along a sloping road that descends diagonally through the picture plane. Samurai, peddlers, and pilgrims move along this incline, distributing human presence across the middle ground. Their figures establish directional movement that guides the eye downward toward the river below.
To the right, a large roof occupies the foreground, forming a dominant angular mass. Across the river, smaller clustered roofs create a contrasting horizontal band. This disparity in scale establishes structural tension between near and far architecture.
The river, likely the Kanda River, flows alongside the slope, creating a lateral boundary within the composition. Its horizontal course counterbalances the diagonal descent of the road. Beyond the clustered rooftops, Mount Fuji appears small and white along the distant horizon.
The work clarifies a recurring structural contrast within the series: layered urban density in the foreground set against the stable, distant presence of Fuji. Large architectural mass, smaller domestic roofs, and the quiet mountain form a graded spatial recession from immediacy to permanence.
About Katsushika Hokusai
Katsushika Hokusai was one of the most influential ukiyo-e artists of the Edo period. Active as painter and printmaker, he expanded ukiyo-e beyond portraiture into landscapes, nature, and scenes of everyday life.
In Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, Hokusai transformed landscape into a structural system—juxtaposing motion and stillness, labor and faith, industry and leisure—while anchoring each composition with the enduring presence of Mount Fuji.
Reproduction
This work is a 20th century lithographic reproduction of Hokusai’s Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji.
It is not an original Edo period woodblock print, but a later limited edition lithograph.
Hand printed and numbered 180/300 in pencil on the lower margin.
Details
Medium: Lithograph
Edition: 180/300
Size: 410 mm × 600 mm
All artworks are sold as shown in the photographs.
