HOKUSAI KATSUHIKA, One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji n. 57, 1835

The scholar's Fuji, Bunhen no 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
As if in a dream, on a cloud decorated with geometric patterns, a poet contemplates Mount Fuji from Tago Beach. The figure, suspended in an atmosphere of contemplation and detachment, represents the poet Yamabe no Akahito (active 724–737), author of famous verses dedicated to Fuji: "Tago no ura ni / uchidete mireba / mashiro no zu / Fuji no takane ni / yuki wa furitsutsu" ("Passing by Tago Beach, I saw the snow falling white, up there on the peak of Fuji").
In the print, the poet sits pensively on the shore, isolated from the surrounding space by an ornamental motif evoking a cloud, a device that emphasizes the temporal distance and dreamlike dimension. The landscape he observes is the same depicted in the panel Tōkaidō Eijiri Tago no ura ryakuzu ( Drawing of the Tago Coast in the vicinity of Eijiri on the Tōkaidō ), belonging to the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji , of which a preparatory drawing is also known.
On the beach below, one can glimpse the daily activities related to salt production, for which Tagonoura was also known in classical poetry. The large furnace-like basins that appear there recall motifs already present in other views of the series, thus merging the real landscape, the poetic myth, and the cultural memory of the sacred mountain.