HOKUSAI KATSUHIKA, One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji n. 58, 1835

The Fuji of Warriors, Buhen 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
Buhen , literally “battle at the foot of Mount Fuji,” depicts a scene of violent action set at the foot of the sacred mountain. Hokusai depicts the legendary killing of a gigantic boar by the valiant Nitta no Shirō Tadatsune (13th century), an episode taken from the Soga monogatari ( Tales of the Soga Brothers ), a story retold many times in the literature, theater, and arts of the Tokugawa period. The event takes place during a hunting expedition organized by the shogun Minamoto Yoritomo, during which the maddened animal had already wounded several men before being confronted and killed by the warrior, armed only with his short sword, the wakizashi .
In this dramatic composition, Hokusai emphasizes the tension and confusion of the fight to the death through a complex visual structure, in which the human figures and the animal merge into a single dynamic mass. Tadatsune, according to some versions of the legend, leaped onto the boar's back to strike it from above, a gesture the artist depicts with energy and movement. The warrior's fur trousers ( mukabaki ), similar to the beast's coat, make it difficult to distinguish man from animal, symbolically merging human courage with the fury of nature.
To the right of the scene, a tangle of bodies can be seen (four wounded or fallen men, recognizable by the number of spears), heightening the sense of chaos and tragedy. The print's title, created as a counterpoint to the earlier Bunhen (devoted to poetic activity), emphasizes the intentional contrast between the harmony of contemplation and the brutality of combat, presenting Mount Fuji as the eternal backdrop for both spiritual and military exploits.