Bushū Tsukudajima
Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji
Katsushika Hokusai
Artwork Description
This view looks toward Tsukudajima near the mouth of the Sumida River, where it opens into Edo Bay. To the right lies Tsukudajima Island, and to the left Ishikawajima, known in the Edo period for its laborers’ quarter. Mount Fuji rises beyond the bay, positioned along the distant horizon.
The composition is structured horizontally. The calm expanse of water occupies the central field, creating an open plane that separates foreground activity from the distant mountain. Boats are dispersed across the surface at varying angles, their diagonal orientations generating movement within the otherwise stable horizontal field.
Each vessel carries out a distinct function—transporting goods, carrying passengers, or engaging in fishing. This distribution of boats across the water establishes rhythmic variation rather than density. The activity is active but not chaotic; motion is contained within a broad spatial order.
The sky above remains expansive and relatively undisturbed. Its openness contrasts with the directional movement of the boats below. Fuji stands small yet clearly defined beyond Edo Bay, anchoring the composition along the horizon line and stabilizing the visual field.
The print clarifies a recurring structural contrast within the series: maritime activity and urban labor unfold across the foreground, while Mount Fuji remains distant and unchanged. Human industry operates across fluid space, set against the fixed geometry of the mountain.
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.
