Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji
Series of landscape prints by Hokusai featuring Mount Fuji.
Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons
Hokusai’s *Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji* (*Fugaku Sanjūrokkei*) is a celebrated series of landscape woodblock prints created between roughly 1830 and 1832. The artist, then in his seventies and at the peak of his powers, worked for publisher Nishimura Yohachi. Each print shows Mount Fuji from a distinct vantage point, capturing it across different seasons and weather patterns. The series was an immediate hit, prompting Nishimura to add ten more prints to the original set.
Among the forty-six total prints are three of Hokusai’s most iconic works: *The Great Wave off Kanagawa*, *Fine Wind, Clear Morning*, and *Thunderstorm Beneath the Summit*. Another piece, *Kajikazawa in Kai Province*, is less famous but widely regarded as one of the series’ finest. Critics have called the collection Hokusai’s “indisputable colour-print masterpiece.”
Mount Fuji’s deep cultural and religious significance in Japan made it a natural subject. This reverence dates back to *The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter*, in which a goddess leaves the elixir of life on the peak. Historian Henry Smith notes that from early times, Fuji was seen as the source of immortality—a tradition that fueled Hokusai’s own lifelong fascination with the mountain.
To produce each print, Hokusai’s drawing was glued to a woodblock, which was then carved. The original drawing was destroyed in the process. The carved block was inked and pressed onto paper. The complexity of Hokusai’s images required a separate block for each color. Early prints used mostly blue tones (*aizuri-e*), including the key block for outlines. This blue came from Prussian blue pigment, recently imported from Europe; Hokusai used it heavily, helping to popularize it. Once the series proved successful, Nishimura switched to full-color prints (*nishiki-e*). He had planned to expand the series beyond a hundred prints, but production stopped at forty-six.
*The Great Wave off Kanagawa* is the most famous image from the series and arguably the most recognizable Japanese artwork worldwide. Another standout, *Fine Wind, Clear Morning* (often called *Red Fuji*), has been described as “one of the simplest and at the same time one of the most outstanding of all Japanese prints.”
Hokusai’s series is the best-known ukiyo-e collection focused on Mount Fuji, but it is not the only one. Hiroshige later produced his own *Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji*,
- artist
- Hokusai (1760–1849)
- field
- Ukiyo-e printmaking
- nationality
- Japanese
- known_for
- Series of landscape prints depicting Mount Fuji
- prints
- 46 total (original 36 plus 10 additional)
- publication_period
- c. 1830–1832
- publisher
- Nishimura Yohachi
Lore & Background
Mount Fuji is a popular subject for Japanese art due to its cultural and religious significance. This belief can be traced to The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, where a goddess deposits the elixir of life on the peak. As the historian Henry Smith explains, 'Thus from an early time, Mt. Fuji was seen as the source of the secret of immortality, a tradition that was at the heart of Hokusai's own obsession with the mountain.' Each image was made through a process whereby Hokusai's drawing on paper was glued to a woodblock to guide the carving. The original design is therefore lost in the process. The block was then covered with ink and applied to paper to create the image. The complexity of Hokusai's images includes the wide range of colors he used, which required the use of a separate block for each color appearing in the image. The earliest prints in the series were made with largely blue tones (aizuri-e), including the key blocks which provide an image's outlines. Prussian blue pigment had not long before been introduced to Japan from Europe and Hokusai used it extensively, ensuring its popularity. Once the publisher, Nishimura, was sure of the series' success, prints were made with multiple colours (nishiki-e). Nishimura had planned to expand the series to more than a hundred prints, but publication stopped at forty-six.
Reader's Guide
Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji is Hokusai's most celebrated series and is often considered the most recognizable work of Japanese art in the world. The most famous single image from the series is widely known in English as The Great Wave off Kanagawa. Another iconic work is Fine Wind, Clear Morning, also known as Red Fuji, which has been described as 'one of the simplest and at the same time one of the most outstanding of all Japanese prints'. While Hokusai's series is the most famous ukiyo-e series to focus on Mount Fuji, there are several other works with the same subject, including Hiroshige's later series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji and Hokusai's subsequent book One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji (published 1834–1835). In his 1896 book on Hokusai, French art critic Edmond de Goncourt wrote that despite its 'rather crude colors', it was, 'the album which inspires the landscapes of the impressionists of the present moment.' The French artist Henri Rivière published the set of color lithographs 'Thirty-six views of the Tour Eiffel' in 1902, inspired by the seminal print set of Hokusai, one of the many influences of Japanese art on late 19th century and early 20th century French art (Japonism). There are fewer than 10 complete sets of the series, with prominent pieces held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MFA Boston, the British Museum, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Did You Know?
- The series originally had 36 prints, but success led to 10 more being added, for a total of 46.
- Prussian blue pigment, newly introduced from Europe, was used extensively in the earliest prints.
- A collection of prints from the series was lost when the Costa Concordia sank on January 13, 2012.
- In 2024, a complete set assembled by Dr. Jitendra V. Singh sold at Christie's for $3.559 million.
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