JAPANESE CULTURE, EXPLAINED

Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji: a series of 46 designs

冨嶽三十六景

Hokusai’s Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji is a colour woodblock-print series published in the early 1830s. Ten designs were added to the original 36. Each design could then be printed in more than one surviving impression.

Reading series, designs and impressions

A series, a design and a sheet are different things

Hokusai, Under the Wave off Kanagawa, ca. 1830–32, an impression at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. CC0.

Another impression of the same design, Tokyo Fuji Art Museum. CC0.

The series provides the shared title. Under the Wave off Kanagawa is one design within it; a museum’s particular sheet is an impression. In January 2022, Shimane Art Museum reported 62 impressions representing 43 of the 46 designs. Those impressions are separate surviving sheets, with their own colours and condition. Nishimuraya Yohachi published the series; designer, publisher and successive printing work form its production background.

The mountain changes its place in the picture

Hokusai, South Wind, Clear Sky, ca. 1830–32. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. CC0.

A cooper works inside a large barrel that frames the distant small Mount Fuji. — Hokusai, Fujimigahara in Owari Province, ca. 1830–32. The Met, JP19. Public domain.

Fine Wind, Clear Weather gives the mountain a dominant presence. Under the Wave sets it far behind boats and moving water. In Bishū Fujimigahara, a large barrel being made frames the distant peak. Foreground objects, distance and viewpoint offer as much variety as weather and season.

Fuji appears within working and travelling lives

Hokusai, Kajikazawa in Kai Province, ca. 1830–32. Tokyo Fuji Art Museum. CC0.

Papers and a hat blown from travellers contrast with the outlined Mount Fuji in the distance. — Hokusai, Ejiri in Suruga Province, ca. 1830–32. The Met, JP2953. Public domain.

Bridges, towns, waterways, workers and travellers help construct the views. Tōkaidō Yoshida looks out from a teahouse; Ejiri in Suruga Province sends objects flying in a sudden gust. In each, Fuji shares the picture with people and places.

Blue required choices in the printing

Prussian blue was newly available to the print market when the series appeared. Research at The Met on The Great Wave found indigo and Prussian blue mixed for outlines, with further printing creating darker passages. This specific case shows how the picture depends on printing decisions as well as Hokusai’s design. The findings concern the impression examined in that study.

Additions, reprints and reuse

Publication left more than finished pictures

The ten additions show a series expanding through publication. Outline proofs used in preparation and later impressions can preserve different evidence of making and continued printing. Ōta Memorial Museum has exhibited such material alongside the designs. A title identifies the composition; collection and impression details locate a particular surviving object.

An image travels outside its series

Durand’s 1905 first edition of Debussy’s orchestral score La Mer used a detail from The Great Wave on its cover. Sibley Music Library describes the crop as essentially the left half: the wave remains, while the distant Fuji does not appear. Moving the image to a new publication changed its relationships within the frame.

Check your understanding

Why are there 46 designs under a title naming 36?

Ten designs were added to the original group.

Are two museums’ Great Waves the same physical object?

They can be different impressions of the same design.

Does one pigment study describe every impression?

No. Findings must remain tied to the sheets actually examined.

Sources and images