Author: HOKUSAI, KATSUSHIKA:
Title: Zen Hokusai Fuji sh›kei [The Former Hokusai's Best Views of Mount Fuji]. Tokyo, ïkura Magobei, Meiji 22 (1889).
Description: . Leporello folded album (18.5 x 25 cm) with twelve stunning double-page wood block prints of Mount Fuji. Printed signature of Hokusai. Captions in Japanese and English. The paper slightly creased at the fold. Preceded by a gold sprinkled endpaper with printed short text in English about Hokusai. Original beige paper cover with embossed decoration with Mount Fuji, lightly wear to edges. Textile title label on upper cover. Small bookshop label on rear of last two pages. Housed in a special paper box. A lovely set of Hokusai's wonderful prints of Mount Fuji, considered the sacred symbol of Japan. The mythical mountain is placed at the centre of Japanese everyday life, seen from different places and during different seasons. Its image has been reproduced innumerable times in Japanese art and this compilation from Hokusai's most acclaimed work, "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji", was first published in 1831. Having a personal interest in Mount Fuji, he created the series at a time when domestic travel increased in Japan. Through Hokusai's use of colours, he invented a new form of perspective never seen before. An unusual album, especially with English subtitles.In the late Edo period, it was filled with travel information such as maps of famous places and road guides.A Òtravel boomÓ and a Òmeisho-e (landscape print) boomÓ arrived at the same time among the people of Edo who yearned for travel, and a major genre of meisho-e was established in ukiyo-e, in which it was mainly centered on Òyakusha-e (actor prints)Ó and Òbijin-e (beautiful women prints)Ó. It is no exaggeration to say that Hokusai's "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" is the most famous ukiyo-e among the meisho-e. In Hokusai's composition, boats are tossed by the big waves, and the boatmen cling onto them helplessly, while Mt. Fuji quietly watches the scene from the waves. It is a much bigger existence than ÒThe Great WaveÓ, but by daring to draw Mt. Fuji small, he was able to express its big presence.The woodblocks required to print ÒThe Great Wave off KanagawaÓ are 1 main block and 2 color blocks (using the front and back), totaling 3 woodblocks. One work is completed by printing five sides of the woodblocks in total.At the time, publishers were particular about minimizing the number of woodblocks (in order to keep the budget down) and also on completing good works, and Hokusai came up with a composition that still fascinates the world with just three woodblocks. Hokusai's "The Great Wave off Kanagawa", which has been stripped of unnecessary elements and is minimalistic yet powerful, has a charm that you will not get tired of looking at it for a long time. UKIYO-E PROJECT produced a reproduction of ÔThe Great Wave off KanagawaÕ from "Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji", which is based on the print owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, that is close to the first edition and is well preserved.

Keywords: East Asia, japan, japon, japanese, asia, asie, asien, asiatic, art, illustrated, fuji,


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