Hokusai's Fuji

by Katsushika Hokusai, Kyoko Wada (Editor)

A wonderfully illustrated exploration of one of Hokusai’s key Mount Fuji. Katsushika Hokusai’s Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji and the three volumes of his subsequent One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji show his fascination with a single Mount Fuji. Hokusai’s near-obsession with Fuji was part of his hankering after artistic immortality. In Buddhist and Daoist tradition, this mountain was thought to hold the secret to eternal life, as one popular interpretation of its name fu-shi (“not death”). Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji was produced from 1830 to 1832, when Hokusai was in his seventies and at the height of his career. Among the prints are three of the artist’s most The Great Wave of Kanagawa ; Fine Wind, Clear Morning ; and Thunderstorm Beneath the Summit . By the time he created his second great tribute to Mount Fuji, three volumes comprising One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji , he was using the artist names “Gakyo Rojin” (“old man crazy for painting”) and “Manji” (“ten thousand things” or “everything”). Contrasting the mountain’s steadfastness and solidity with the changing world around it, Hokusai depicts Fuji through different seasons, weather conditions, and settings, and in so doing communicates an important while life changes, Fuji stands still. Including all illustrations from these two masterful series, Hokusai’s Fuji also features many of Hokusai’s earlier renditions of the mountain, as well as later paintings. In this way, through Mount Fuji, this volume traces a history of Hokusai’s oeuvre. 265 color and black-and-white illustrations

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Japan, Art History

416 pages, Hardcover

Published January 9, 2024

Reviews

[Alan Fitzgerald-Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

All his work connected to Fuji. He was in his mid seventies before the 36 views of Mount Fuji was published. Printed on inexpensive paper, as per the most of the originals, this volume has the feel of a Japanese paperback. Fitting, as Hokusai was a manga artist first and also produced books on drawing techniques. He was the first Japanese artist to garner much from western technique, which ironically fed into the major influence of French Impressionists/Post-Impressionists.

[Peter O'Callaghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

HOKUSAI’S FUJI
Thames & Hudson 2023
Reviewed by Peadar O’Callaghan
Hours and hours with Hokusai
If you are lucky to possess a copy of Colm Tóbín’s Walking Along the Border, with photographs by Tony O’Shea (1987), there is a wonderful black and white photo in chapter 7 with the caption: ‘Religious pictures on sale beside a portrait of Barry McGuigan at the mart in Enniskillen’ (p.93). Between the picture of McGuigan and the Sacred Heart of Jesus there is one of what seems to be a crooked old tree in leaf or in blossom. It may well be one of the ‘religious pictures’ referred to in the caption. I was thinking of that picture while slowly leafing through Hokusai’s Fuji.
It is a beautiful, enchanting volume of space, colour and light to hold in one’s hands. A medieval Book of Hours for today.
I have never been to Japan and my knowledge of the country’s landscapes and seascapes is much influenced by visits to Ireland’s Japanese Gardens: Lafcadio Hearn Japanese Gardens in Tramore, and within the lands of the Irish National Stud at Tully. And my imagination can never fit Mount Fuji among any of Ireland’s mountain peaks – impossible. So that is why I treasure this book so much. When I open it, I’m a timeless Zen monk – not a page turner. To really smell the blossom of Hokusai’s trees, sense the wetness of the mosses, the whiteness of the snow and the majesty of Fuji one must sit still with this book - one page at each sitting. It is not a book to be put on a shelf - but on a cushion.
My first introduction to Katsushika Hokusai came as a shock. While looking at a print of his in a library on a cold winter’s day, many years ago, I heard a Cuckoo and got the smell of azaleas as I looked, enraptured. And the Cuckoo was flying with a swoosh and the flowers were growing. That print is missing from this book.
Being ‘anosmic’ I no longer smell or taste anything now. But the scent of Hokusai’s azaleas fragrant memory still and memories too of long past apple and cherry blossoms and tastes of the sea have been re-awakened by the beautiful prints in this publication. I treasure the touch of this new ‘book of hours’ - bringing me snow in spring and the promise of buds to blossom.

[Jessada Karnjana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hokusai’s paintings are masterful … and some, delightfully playful. This volume includes his renowned Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji and One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji, along with works from before and after those series. It’s such a rich and beautiful collection.

In his own words: As I turned seventy-three, I partially succeeded in capturing the physique of all living things and the vitality of plants. For that reason, from the age of eighty-six, I shall make great progress while at the age of ninety I will do so even more. It is my greatest wish to reach one hundred, when my work would become truly marvelous. If I live to be one hundred and ten, every dot and every line would be as if coming to life.

[Justine Oh · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was recommended by the book 'One Thousand Books to Read Before You Die'. Great images of the painting. I will use them as a reference for my visit to Mount Fuji in a few month's time.

[tempest blanchard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book of art. ❤️

[Roadtotherisingsun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful. Filled with paintings of a different Japan. With colors that transform them into fantasy pictures