Sōshū Hakone kosui
Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji
Katsushika Hokusai
Artwork Description
Created around 1830–32 for Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, Sōshū Hakone kosui depicts the quiet expanse of Lake Ashi in Hakone, present-day Kanagawa Prefecture.
Unlike Hokusai’s more dramatic compositions, this work removes all visible motion. There are no travelers, no boats, no wind disturbing the water. The lake’s surface lies still, reflecting the surrounding hills. Mount Fuji rises softly in the distance beneath a band of stylized suyari-gasumi clouds.
The composition is built on equilibrium. Vertical cedar trees balance the horizontal sweep of the lake and sky. Scale is deliberately flattened; mountain, water, and land exist on nearly equal visual weight. No element dominates.
This subtraction of movement is intentional. Hokusai, who often expressed power through tension and dynamic framing, here explores the opposite: strength through stillness. The image becomes a meditation on pause—perhaps the silence after the arduous journey through Hakone’s steep passes.
Within the series, this print stands as an experiment in restraint. It suggests that the sacred presence of Fuji does not always manifest through spectacle. Sometimes it emerges through quiet alignment—where space, air, and horizon settle into calm order.
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 transformed Japanese printmaking through bold structural devices and innovative use of color, including imported Prussian blue. Across the series, Hokusai explores motion, labor, faith, industry, and silence—revealing Fuji as both physical landmark and metaphysical presence.
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.
