Enoshima from Katase
Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji
Katsushika Hokusai
Artwork Description
This print presents Enoshima Island as seen from Katase Beach, a site that flourished during the Edo period as both pilgrimage destination and leisure retreat. Enshrining Benzaiten, Enoshima attracted worshippers, travelers, and pleasure-seekers alike.
Hokusai arranges the composition so that the island rises compactly from the sea, its clustered buildings and shrine structures forming a dense vertical mass. In contrast, the open shoreline stretches horizontally across the foreground, populated by small figures engaged in walking, resting, and gathering.
The juxtaposition of sacred island and recreational shore captures a distinctive aspect of Edo culture: faith intertwined with enjoyment. Pilgrimage was not separate from travel or commerce; it was embedded within them.
Mount Fuji appears faintly in the distance, reinforcing the spatial depth and linking Enoshima to the broader sacred geography of the region. The rhythm of architecture, shoreline, and horizon creates a measured equilibrium between movement and permanence.
Rather than dramatizing the scene, Hokusai observes it. The island is neither monumental nor romanticized. It exists as a lived place—devotional, social, and scenic at once.
Through layered perspective and careful balance, the print reflects the cultural reality of Enoshima: a meeting point of spirituality, tourism, and everyday life beneath the distant constancy of Fuji.
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 transformed ukiyo-e from actor portraiture into expansive landscape and genre scenes.
In Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, Hokusai integrates faith, labor, travel, industry, and silence into a unified visual system. Mount Fuji functions not merely as scenery, but as a constant presence across varied human conditions.
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.
