Mount Fuji
Mount Fuji has long been a sacred mountain in Japan. Its snow capped summit, towering shape, and presence near Tokyo have made it a central subject in Japanese art for centuries. Artists used it not only as a landscape but also as a symbol of cultural and religious significance.
Japanese Art
Japanese prints often featured everyday life, tea plantations, rivers, and weather conditions, but Mount Fuji remained a constant theme. Landscape prints connected viewers to nature while reflecting the floating world philosophy of ukiyo e. The mountain became a unifying subject across multiple colours and styles, from early depictions to nineteenth century masterpieces.
Katsushika Hokusai
No Japanese artist is more closely tied to Mount Fuji than Katsushika Hokusai. His most famous work, the print series Thirty Six Views of Mount Fuji, elevated landscape prints to international fame. Historian Henry Smith explains that Hokusai’s images include not only direct depictions of Fuji but also scenes of everyday life framed by the mountain. This series became the most famous ukiyo e series of its time.
Japanese Woodblock Prints
Woodblock prints were central to Hokusai’s work. The print series relied on key blocks and separate block impressions to achieve color appearing in rich layers. Prints used prussian blue, a pigment newly available in Hokusai’s time, giving them largely blue tones that stood out across Japan and later in Europe. Richard Lane and George Braziller both noted how these prints mark a turning point in Japanese art history.
Great Wave
Among all the images, the Great Wave, also called Wave off Kanagawa or Kanagawa Oki Nami Ura, is the most famous single image. Often mistaken as a painting, the print depicts a giant wave threatening boats while Mount Fuji stands calmly in the middle ground. The image’s outlines, multiple colours, and balance between motion and stillness made it an iconic work.
Kanagawa Oki Nami Ura
Hokusai’s Great Wave has been displayed at the Metropolitan Museum, Freer Gallery, Sackler Gallery, Art Institute, and Royal Academy. Scholars often call it Hokusai’s greatest work. Henry Smith described it as the most famous single image in Japanese art. The giant wave, made vivid with prussian blue, remains an enduring symbol of both nature’s power and Fuji’s sacred stillness.
Edo Period
During the Edo period, print series like Thirty Six Views reflected both art and everyday life. The earliest prints from Hokusai’s Mount Fuji series show tea plantations, cushion pines, and the Minobu River, connecting the mountain to daily scenes across Japan. These works also carried cultural and religious significance, reinforcing Fuji as a sacred mountain.
Six Views of Mount
Hokusai also produced a smaller print series titled Six Views of Mount Fuji. These prints captured Fuji from different provinces, such as Kai Province and Tago Bay. Each print depicts weather conditions and fine wind patterns, showing how Hokusai’s drawing adapted to changing seasons and moods.
Mitsui Shop
In one of the Thirty Six Views prints, Hokusai included the Mitsui Shop in Edo, a sign of how commercial life blended with Fuji’s image. This combination of sacred mountain and bustling eastern capital symbolized the reach of Fuji’s influence in both art and daily commerce.
South Wind
The print often called South Wind, Clear Sky or Red Fuji shows the mountain glowing in early morning light. Unlike the giant wave, this print is quiet but powerful. The red surface against clear sky became another iconic work within the mount fuji series, and remains a celebrated example of Hokusai’s work.
Tago Bay
Tago Bay also appears in Hokusai’s Fuji prints, with the mountain framed by sea and shore. The composition shows Hokusai’s own desire to capture multiple perspectives of the mountain. Each print depicts a new balance between mountain, sea, and sky.
Clear Sky
Clear sky conditions appear in many prints. They allow Fuji’s snow capped summit to stand out against deep prussian blue or the warmer red tones of South Wind. The series success rests on these contrasts, each image showing different weather conditions while keeping the mountain at its core.
