Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji

The Great Wave off Kanagawa, the first and best-known print in the series

Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (富嶽三十六景 Fugaku Sanjūrokkei) is a series of landscape prints by the Japanese ukiyo-e artist Hokusai (1760–1849). The series depicts Mount Fuji from different locations and in various seasons and weather conditions. The original thirty-six prints were so popular that Hokusai expanded the series by ten.^[1]

History

Mount Fuji is a popular subject for Japanese art due to its cultural and religious significance. This belief can be traced to The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, where a goddess deposits the elixir of life on the peak. As Henry Smith explains, "Thus from an early time, Mt. Fuji was seen as the source of the secret of immortality, a tradition that was at the heart of Hokusai's own obsession with the mountain."^[2]

The most famous single image from the series is widely known in English as The Great Wave off Kanagawa (神奈川沖浪裏 Kanagawa-oki nami-ura), although a more literal translation might be, "Off Kanagawa, the back (or underside) of a wave." It depicts three boats being threatened by a large wave while Mount Fuji rises in the background. While generally assumed to be a tsunami, the wave was probably intended to simply be a large ocean wave.

Each of the images was made through a process whereby an image drawn on paper was used to guide the cutting of a wood block. This block was then covered with ink and applied to paper to create the image (see Woodblock printing in Japan for further details). The complexity of Hokusai's images includes the wide range of colors he used, which required the use of a series of blocks for each of the colors used in the images.

A collection of Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji prints contained in the wellness spa of the Costa Concordia was lost during the collision of the ship on January 13, 2012. ^[3]

All forty-six prints (the original thirty-six plus the ten additions) were featured in the exhibition "Hokusai: 36 Views of Mount Fuji" at the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonian's museums of Asian art, in the spring of 2012.

The Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji prints were displayed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston as part of a Hokusai exhibit April 5 through August 9, 2015.^[4]

While Hokusai's Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji is the most famous ukiyo-e series to focus on Mount Fuji, there are several other series with the same subject, including Hiroshige's Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji and Hokusai's own later series One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji.^[2]

Prints

Original thirty-six

These images are of modern facsimile prints made using the same techniques.

№	Image	English title	Japanese title
1		The Great Wave off Kanagawa	神奈川沖浪裏 Kanagawa oki nami-ura
2		South Wind, Clear Sky (There is another impression of 凱風快晴, also known as Red Fuji)	凱風快晴 Gaifū kaisei
3		Rainstorm Beneath the Summit	山下白雨 Sanka hakū
4		Under Mannen Bridge at Fukagawa	深川万年橋下 Fukagawa Mannen-bashi shita
5		Sundai, Edo	東都駿台 Tōto sundai
6		Cushion Pine at Aoyama	青山円座松 Aoyama enza-no-matsu
7		Senju, Musashi Province	武州千住 Bushū Senju
8		Inume Pass, Kōshū	甲州犬目峠 Kōshū inume-tōge
9		Fuji View Field in Owari Province	尾州不二見原 Bishū Fujimigahara
10		Ejiri in Suruga Province	駿州江尻 Sunshū Ejiri
11		A sketch of the Mitsui shop in Suruga in Edo（present Muromachi, Tokyo）	江都駿河町三井見世略図 Kōto Suruga-cho Mitsui Miseryakuzu
12		Sunset across the Ryōgoku bridge from the bank of the Sumida River at Onmayagashi	御厩川岸より両国橋夕陽見 Ommayagashi yori ryōgoku-bashi yūhi mi
13		Sazai hall - Temple of Five Hundred Rakan	五百らかん寺さざゐどう Gohyaku-rakanji Sazaidō
14		Tea house at Koishikawa. The morning after a snowfall	礫川雪の旦 Koishikawa yuki no ashita
15		Below Meguro	下目黒 Shimo-Meguro
16		Watermill at Onden	隠田の水車 Onden no suisha
17		Enoshima in Sagami Province	相州江の島 Soshū Enoshima
18		Shore of Tago Bay, Ejiri at Tōkaidō	東海道江尻田子の浦略図 Tōkaidō Ejiri tago-no-ura
19		Yoshida at Tōkaidō	東海道吉田 Tōkaidō Yoshida
20		The Kazusa Province sea route	上総の海路 Kazusa no kairo
21		Nihonbashi bridge in Edo	江戸日本橋 Edo Nihon-bashi
22		Barrier Town on the Sumida River	隅田川関屋の里 Sumidagawa Sekiya no sato
23		Bay of Noboto	登戸浦 Noboto-ura
24		The lake of Hakone in Sagami Province	相州箱根湖水 Sōshū Hakone kosui
25		Mount Fuji reflects in Lake Kawaguchi, seen from the Misaka Pass in Kai Province	甲州三坂水面 Kōshū Misaka suimen
26		Hodogaya on the Tōkaidō	東海道程ケ谷 Tōkaidō Hodogaya
27		Tama River in Musashi Province	武州玉川 Bushū Tamagawa
28		Asakusa Hongan-ji temple in the Eastern capital [Edo]	東都浅草本願寺 Tōto Asakusa honganji
29		Tsukuda Island in Musashi Province	武陽佃島 Buyō Tsukuda-jima
30		Shichiri beach in Sagami Province	相州七里浜 Soshū Shichiri-ga-hama
31		Umezawa in Sagami Province	相州梅沢庄 Soshū umezawanoshō
32		Kajikazawa in Kai Province	甲州石班沢 Kōshū Kajikazawa
33		Mishima Pass in Kai Province	甲州三嶌越 Kōshū Mishima-goe
34		Mount Fuji from the mountains of Tōtōmi	遠江山中 Tōtōmi sanchū
35		Lake Suwa in Shinano Province	信州諏訪湖 Shinshū Suwa-ko
36		Ushibori in Hitachi Province	常州牛掘 Jōshū Ushibori

Additional 10

№	Image	English title	Japanese title
1		Goten-yama-hill, Shinagawa on the Tōkaidō	東海道品川御殿山の不二 Tōkaidō Shinagawa Goten'yama no Fuji
2		Honjo Tatekawa, the timberyard at Honjo	本所立川 Honjo Tatekawa
3		Pleasure District at Senju	従千住花街眺望の不二 Senju Hana-machi Yori Chōbō no Fuji
4		Nakahara in Sagami Province	相州仲原 Sōshū Nakahara
5		Ōno Shinden in the Suruga Province	駿州大野新田 Sunshū Ōno-shinden
6		Climbing on Fuji	諸人登山 Shojin tozan
7		The Tea plantation of Katakura in Suruga Province	駿州片倉茶園の不二 Sunshū Katakura chaen no Fuji
8		The Fuji from Kanaya on the Tōkaidō	東海道金谷の不二 Tōkaidō Kanaya no Fuji
9		Dawn at Isawa in Kai Province	甲州伊沢暁 Kōshū Isawa no Akatsuki
10		The back of Fuji from the Minobu river	身延川裏不二 Minobu-gawa ura Fuji

Notes

1. Nagata
2. Smith
3. "Costa Concordia: Threat of treasure hunters". To Be A Travel Agent.
4. "Hokusai Features Legendary Artist, Best Known for Iconic Great Wave".

References

• Nagata, Seiji (1999). Hokusai: Genius of the Japanese Ukiyo-e. Kodansha, Tokyo.
• Smith, Henry D. II (1988). Hokusai: One Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji. George Braziller, Inc., Publishers, New York. ISBN 0-8076-1195-6.

External links

• Hokusai: 36 Views of Mount Fuji exhibition at the Freer and Sackler Galleries
• Hokusai's 36 Views of Mount Fuji
• A short biography of Hokusai including a section on the 36 Views of Mt. Fuji series.
• Jim Breen's ukiyo-e page on Hokusai and the 36 Views
• 葛飾北斎の富士山・富嶽三十六景 (Japanese)
• Educational Audio Tour of The Great Wave