"The Cushion Pine at Aoyama" from 36 views of Mt.Fuji series by Hokusai

Description : 

The Cushion Pine at Aoyama (Aoyama Enza no Matsu) is part of Katsushika Hokusai’s Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (c.1830–32). The scene is set in the garden of Ryūgan Temple in Harajuku Village—then a celebrated scenic site on the outskirts of Edo. The temple and its pine were famed landmarks, appearing in illustrated guidebooks such as Edo Meisho Zue.

Hokusai depicts the massive pine grove as a great green dome, its round contour echoing a hill. Beneath its shade, visitors gather for a lively banquet; a father helps his child climb the slope, while others tidy fallen needles or share sake. The details capture the warmth of human presence, yet the composition remains highly stylized.

Mount Fuji in the distance forms a perfect triangle, set against the semicircular mound of the pine. This deliberate contrast—concave and convex, mountain and earth—reveals Hokusai’s structural intelligence. He simplified natural forms to their geometric essence, transforming a local scene into a visual dialogue of balance and rhythm.

Rather than recording the landscape as it was, Hokusai reimagined it as pure design. The Cushion Pine at Aoyama embodies his pursuit of compositional beauty over realism—an image where nature, geometry, and everyday life quietly converge.

Hokusai Katsushika : 
Known simply as Hokusai, was a Japanese Ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, active as a painter and printmaker. 
He is best known for the woodblock print series Thirty six views of Mt Fuji, which includes the iconic print The Great Wave Off Kanagawa. Hokusai was instrumental in developing Ukiyo-e from a style of portraiture largely focused on courtesans and actors into a much broader style of art that focused on landscapes, plants, and animals. His works are thought to have had a significant influence on Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monete during the wave of Japonism that spread across Europe in the late 19th century.

REPRODUCTION : In the 20th century, artists and publishers collaborated to recreate famous woodblock prints, providing them to Japanese collectors and Westerners seeking rare designs.
New blocks were made, and artisan printers painstakingly printed each color using the same method as the 19th-century originals.

Limited edition lithograph
Hand-printed, numbered 180/300 on margin.
Size : 
410mm x 600mm