Asakusa Honganji
Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji
Katsushika Hokusai
Artwork Description
Higashi Honganji, originally established as Kōzuiji Temple in 1591, was relocated to Asakusa after the Great Fire of Meireki in 1657 and became known as Asakusa Gobō. The print focuses on the main hall of the temple, situating the viewer close to the expansive roof structure.
The foreground is dominated by the steep triangular mass of the roof, which occupies most of the pictorial space. Workers appear very small along its surface, emphasizing the architectural scale and reinforcing the sharp incline of the structure. Their placement clarifies the roof’s magnitude and the density of the built form.
Mount Fuji appears small along the distant horizon. The triangular outline of the mountain echoes the triangular geometry of the roof, establishing a structural correspondence between near and far planes. The heavy diagonal of the roof contrasts with the horizontal horizon line that anchors the composition.
A kite drifts in the open sky above the roofline. Positioned within the upper register, it introduces a lighter diagonal element that offsets the weight of the architectural mass below. The sky remains largely open, creating a spatial contrast between compressed foreground density and distant openness.
The composition clarifies a central tension within the series: monumental architecture in the foreground set against the stable presence of Mount Fuji in the distance. Human labor is embedded within the structure, while Fuji remains fixed beyond it, reinforcing the contrast between constructed space and geological 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.
