36 Views of Mount Fuji, Shore of Tago Bay Ejiri at Tokaido, Katsushika Hokusai, Japanese Print

In Tago Bay near Ejiri on the Tōkaidō, Hokusai employs a romantic framing of Mount Fuji, snow-capped and receding from both cloud and land, towering over Tago bay. The junks at sail in the turbulent waters provide a juxtaposition to Fuji's similarly powerful, but static, presence.
The oarsman of the junk are depicted as strained at work, signifying the strength of Suruga bay's waters. Meanwhile, the shoreline is dotted with activity from fishermen and workers carrying baskets of salt for kilns along the beach. This act of balancing between foreground and background was a perspective Hokusai often employed as a means of counterpoise. The method of production of this print involved Hokusai hand-drawing the scene and then transferring it, with the help of woodcutters, onto a wooden block for printing. The block is covered in ink and then impressed upon a sheet of fine art paper. To achieve the rich variety of colour present in Tago Bay near Ejiri on the Tōkaidō, numerous blocks of coloured ink are created and combined in use.

During the period of Tago Bay near Ejiri on the Tōkaidō's publication, views of Fuji had become an important trope for Japan's artists and the popular cultural imagination. Fuji was heralded as a symbol of national heritage, timelessness and tradition. In Japanese folk culture, Fuji has continually influenced writers and artists for its association with spiritual ritual, religion and the immortality of "the Gods" and deities that are said to have reside there.

Katsushika Hokusai was a Japanese artist, ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period. Born in Edo (now Tokyo), Hokusai is best known as author of the woodblock print series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (富嶽三十六景 Fugaku Sanjūroku-kei, c. 1831) which includes the internationally iconic print, The Great Wave off Kanagawa.

Hokusai created the "Thirty-Six Views" both as a response to a domestic travel boom and as part of a personal obsession with Mount Fuji. It was this series, specifically The Great Wave print and Fine Wind, Clear Morning, that secured Hokusai’s fame both in Japan and overseas. As historian Richard Lane concludes, "Indeed, if there is one work that made Hokusai's name, both in Japan and abroad, it must be this monumental print-series". While Hokusai's work prior to this series is certainly important, it was not until this series that he gained broad recognition.

All prints are made using archival art stocks and UV pigment inks to give up to 200 years life. Choose from unframed, framed and mounted and canvas panel options.