HOKUSAI KATSUHIKA, One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji n. 1, 1834

A splendid impression with good contrasts, attributable to the Eirakuya Tōshirō edition (mid-19th century) from the original blocks of the Egawa workshop. Printed on Japanese paper, in excellent condition, with original untrimmed margins beyond the marginal line.

Selected Bibliography
H.D. Smith II, Hokusai: One Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji, New York: George Braziller, 1988
M. Forrer, Hokusai, London: Royal Academy of Arts, 1991
M. Forrer, Hokusai, New York: Rizzoli, 1988
M. Forrer, Hokusai: Prints and Drawings, Munich: Prestel, 1991
G.C. Calza, Hokusai: il vecchio pazzo per la pittura, Milano 1999-2000, Londra 2003
G.C. Calza, Hokusai: le cento vedute del Fuji, Milano: Editoriale Nuova, 1982
J. Hillier, The Art of Hokusai in Book Illustration, London: Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1980
J. Hillier, L. Smith, Japanese Prints: 300 Years of Albums and Books, London: British Museum Publications, 1980
R.S. Keyes, Ehon: The Artist and the Book in Japan, New York: George Braziller, 2006
T. Clark (ed.), Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave, London: British Museum Press, 2017
M. Forrer, W.R. van Gulik, Hokusai and His School: Paintings, Drawings and Illustrated Books, Leiden: Society for Japanese Arts and Crafts, 1991
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/78803

Commentary
Revered as the goddess of Mount Fuji, Konohana Sakuya, the Shinto deity of "flowering
blooms," is one of the principal deities in the Shinto pantheon. She is the daughter of Oyamatsumi, the deity of the mountains, directly descended from Izanagi and Izanami, the divine couple who created the archipelago of the Land of the Rising Sun. According to legend, having given birth in fire, the goddess protected Japan from the devastating effects of eruptions. In her right hand, the goddess holds Yata no Kagami, the sacred mirror, a symbol of purity and one of the three sacred symbols of the Shinto religion; in her left, a branch of sakaki, the sacred tree, with white paper strips, a metaphor for magatama, small ornaments whose use dates back to the prehistoric Jomon era.
In Hokusai's view, however, the figure is more simply a generic Shinto deity. The image serves to open the volume with a note of divine feminine beauty, which is central to the Japanese conception of Mount Fuji.