Bishū Fujimigahara
Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji
Katsushika Hokusai
Artwork Description
In Bishū Fujimigahara, Hokusai stages an ingenious act of framing. The circular rim of a large barrel becomes a visual window through which Mount Fuji appears, distant and perfectly centered. The act of seeing becomes the subject itself—Fuji is both revealed and constructed by the composition.
In the foreground, a cooper bends over his work, absorbed in shaping the barrel. He remains unaware of the mountain aligned behind him. This juxtaposition of everyday labor and symbolic monumentality creates a quiet tension between human craft and transcendent nature.
The structure of the print is rigorously geometric. The circular barrel contrasts with the rectangular fields and the triangular silhouette of Fuji, generating a rhythmic balance of forms. Hokusai prioritizes expressive space over geographic accuracy—there is no true sightline to Fuji from Owari Province—transforming the landscape into a poetic illusion.
Through this layered interplay of framing, geometry, and symbolism, the work demonstrates Hokusai’s mature compositional mastery and visionary imagination.
About Katsushika Hokusai
Katsushika Hokusai was one of the most influential ukiyo-e artists of the Edo period. Active as both painter and printmaker, he expanded ukiyo-e beyond portraits of actors and courtesans into landscapes, nature, and scenes of daily life.
His series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji became one of the most celebrated achievements in Japanese printmaking. Hokusai’s work profoundly influenced European artists such as Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet during the nineteenth-century wave of Japonism.
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.
