HOKUSAI KATSUHIKA, One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji n. 29, 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 uncut margins beyond the border 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
Hanasakura, the cherry blossom, permeates the entire composition: observe the sharp quality of the cherry blossoms printed with gray outlines, like so many tiny cotton balls that merge into larger cloud-like clusters framing the mountain.
The men observing the blossoms on the left have set up their screen and spread their rug for a day of eating, drinking, and dancing. Two of them are singing and gesturing to the accompaniment of a geisha's shamisen, while the third seems to be reaching for more sake from a servant. In the foreground, there is a curious type of winch-like arrangement through which a basket of boxed food is being pulled down a rope. Perhaps the food was prepared in the restaurant above and is being sent down to the detached building below to be distributed among the customers in the garden.
In the past, the scene has been localized in Edo, at Mukojima or Asakusayama, but it probably, as Smith has already asserted, cannot be attributed to any particular location.
The theme of cherry blossoms is echoed in the drawing Sumida no Fuji, plate no. 75 of the same series. The Japanese people, in fact, loved to admire the beauty of nature in specific places and times: the first plum blossoms at the end of winter, the cherry blossoms in spring, or the falling red autumn leaves represented moments of true joy and as such were painted and celebrated.