Tōkaidō Kanaya no Fuji
Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji
Katsushika Hokusai
Artwork Description
Hokusai stages the crossing of the Ōi River as a confrontation between human effort and natural force. Porters strain against the current, lifting travelers above the swelling water, while Mount Fuji rises in distant stillness beyond the scene.
During the Edo period, bridges and ferries were prohibited on the Ōi River, making this crossing one of the most formidable obstacles along the Tōkaidō Road. Travelers were carried on the shoulders of laborers or transported in litters known as rendai. The difficulty of the crossing was captured in the saying, “Even horses may cross Hakone’s steep passes, but not the Ōi River.”
Hokusai renders the river with bold, wave-like forms that echo the dynamic movement of water, contrasting sharply with the immovable calm of Fuji. Subtle commercial details appear throughout the composition, including banners and containers bearing the crest and name of the publisher Nishimuraya, known as Eijudō. Through this interplay of motion and stillness, labor and monumentality, Hokusai reveals both social reality and compositional mastery.
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, which includes The Great Wave off Kanagawa, 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 late 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.
