HOKUSAI KATSUHIKA, One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji n. 37, 1835

The sinuous Fuji, Uneri fuji

Series: One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji , Fugaku Hyakkei
Technique: Sumizuri-e , woodblock prints in two or three shades of gray ( sumi ink)
Format: Hanshibon , open diptych (approximately 183x253 mm)
Signatures: Zen Hokusai Iitsu Aratame Gakyorojin Manji
Artist's Seal: Fuji no Yama
Date: Woodcuts engraved between 1834 and 1847; examples printed between 1834 and about 1870
Engravers: Egawa Tomekichi and Egawa Sentarō
Publisher: Eirakuya Tōshirō (Tōshodō), Nagoya

A splendid work with good contrasts, attributable to the Eirakuya Tōshirō print run (mid-19th century) from the original woodcuts from the Egawa workshop. Printed on Japanese paper, in excellent condition, with original margins intact beyond the marginal line.

Annotated 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
GC Calza, Hokusai: the old man crazy about painting , Milan 1999-2000, London 2003
GC Calza, Hokusai: One Hundred Views of Fuji , Milan: 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

Description
A fascinating sight, reflected in the rhythmic ups and downs of the waves: the mirror of the waters in perpetual motion creates, in fact, interesting hypnotic games.
This view can be interpreted as a sequel to the drawings Kaijo no Fuji , plate no. 40 of the same series, and Kanagawa oki namiura ( The wave off the coast of Kanagawa or The Great Wave ) from the series Thirty-six views of Mount Fuji .
The sea, the storm having passed, has calmed down and now the fishermen's boat glides through the waves, some rowers seem to turn to admire the distant Fuji, others to observe its trembling reflection on the water.
Real or reflected, intuited or imagined, the fulcrum of the entire scene is and remains the omnipresence of the mountain, divine, elusive and mysterious.