Nihonbashi, Morning View

Tōto Nihonbashi
Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji

Katsushika Hokusai

Artwork Description

Nihonbashi served as the central point of Edo, from which all official road distances were measured. Approximately twenty-eight ken in length, the bridge functioned as a major commercial artery. Warehouses lined both banks of the canal, forming a dense urban corridor.

The composition is organized along strong linear perspective. The bridge occupies the foreground, spanning horizontally across the lower portion of the image. Its handrails, marked by ornamental finials, establish a repeating rhythm that leads the eye inward. Beneath the bridge, boats move along the canal, reinforcing depth through converging lines of architecture on both sides.

Beyond Nihonbashi, Isshiki Bridge appears in the middle distance, followed by the elevated mass of Edo Castle. To the left, Mount Fuji rises small yet clearly defined along the horizon. The spatial sequence progresses from immediate commerce to political center to distant geological anchor.

The foreground is animated by carts loaded with goods, porters carrying poles, and laborers unloading timber. Movement dominates the bridge surface. This density contrasts with the controlled recession of the architectural perspective and the distant stability of Fuji.

The print clarifies a layered urban structure: commercial exchange in the foreground, administrative authority beyond, and Mount Fuji as the final axial reference. Human activity fills the bridge at daybreak, while the mountain remains fixed beyond the constructed order of the city.

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.