Fukagawa Mannenbashi shita
Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji
Katsushika Hokusai
Artwork Description
Mannen Bridge spans the Onagigawa Canal at its junction with the Sumida River in the Fukagawa district, an area shaped by trade and river transport along Edo Bay.
The composition adopts a low vantage point from the waterline, positioning the viewer beneath the arc of the bridge.
The massive curve of the Taiko Bridge dominates the foreground, cutting across the upper register of the image in a sweeping diagonal arc. Beneath this structural frame, Mount Fuji appears in the distance, precisely positioned within the opening of the bridge. The mountain anchors the horizon while remaining visually compressed by the scale of the foreground structure.
Across the far bank, warehouses form an elongated horizontal band. Their lowered rooflines extend the lateral rhythm of the composition, counterbalancing the dominant arc above. Vertical posts and diagonal supports reinforce the internal geometry, establishing equilibrium between curvature and linear stability.
Pedestrians traverse the bridge in a steady procession, while a fisherman occupies the lower register near the water. Movement unfolds across the upper plane, contrasted with relative stillness below. Human activity operates within the engineered structure of the city, while Fuji remains fixed beyond it.
The print clarifies a central tension within the series: density and motion in the foreground set against distant geological permanence. Architecture frames nature, yet nature stabilizes the entire composition.
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.
