Hokusai: Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji

Mount Fuji has long been a centerpiece of Japanese cultural imagination, and nothing captures this with more virtuosity than the landmark woodblock print series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). The renowned printmaker documents 19th-century Japan with exceptional artistry and adoration, celebrating its countryside, cities, people, and serene natural beauty. Produced at the peak of Hokusai’s artistic ambition, the series is a quintessential work of ukiyo-e that earned the artist world-wide recognition as a leading master of his craft.

The prints illustrate Hokusai’s own obsession with Mount Fuji as well as the flourishing domestic tourism of the late Edo period. Just as the mountain was a cherished view for travelers heading to the capital Edo (now Tokyo) along the TĹŤkaidĹŤ road, Mount Fuji is the infallible backdrop to each of the series’ unique scenes. Hokusai captures the distinctive landscape and provincial charm of each setting with a vivid palette and exquisite detail. Including the iconic Under the Great Wave off Kanagawa (also The Great Wave), this widely celebrated series is a treasure of international art history.

Among only a few complete reprints of the series, this XXL edition pays homage to Hokusai’s striking colors and compositions with unprecedented care and magnitude. Bound in the Japanese tradition with uncut paper, Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji presents the original 36 plates plus the additional 10 later added by the artist. The perfect companion piece to TASCHEN’s One Hundred Views of Edo and The Sixty-Nine Stations along the KisokaidĹŤ, this publication paints an enchanting picture of pre-industrial Japan and is itself a stunning monument to the art of woodblock printing.

Editorial Reviews

Review
„A visually stunning reproduction of the great Japanese printmaker’s most famous series.“ ― The Times

„Shares the late great’s fascination with the dormant volcano through his original series of 36 prints.“ ― mymodernmet.com

„From the age of five, I have had a mania for sketching the form of things.“ ― Hokusai

“ [Thirty-Six views of Mount Fuji] will enable you to get closer to Hokusai’s beauty and genius.“ ― creativeboom.com

„The year’s most beautiful art volume celebrates Hokusai’s big wave, snow-capped peak, tourists on the bridge, not just as beloved images but for the exquisite craft of woodblock printing. An object of luxurious, tactile delight ― Japanese traditional binding, uncut paper, silken box with wooden closures ― enhanced by insightful commentary.“ ― The Financial Times

About the Author
Andreas Marks studied East Asian art history at the University of Bonn and obtained his PhD in Japanese studies from Leiden University with a thesis on 19th-century actor prints. From 2008 to 2013 he was director and chief curator of the Clark Center for Japanese Art in Hanford, California, and since 2013 has been the Mary Griggs Burke Curator of Japanese and Korean Art, head of the Department of Japanese and Korean Art, and director of the Clark Center for Japanese Art at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. He is the author of The Sixty-Nine Stations along the Kisokaido (2017), Japanese Woodblock Prints (2019), and Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (2021).