Japanese Print Description
HOKUSAI (1760-1849)
Nihonbashi
36 Views of Fuji
C 1831
Oban yoko-e. Repairs and soiling.
Hokusai’s most famous series, “The 36 Views of Fuji”, which established him as one of the great landscape print artists of the 19th century. The theme of the series may have been Mount Fuji, but many of the views were from Edo and the city was frequently the focal point.
Nihonbashi Bridge was the official center of Edo, the location from where distances to and from the city were measured, and the starting point of many famous roads including the Tokaido and the Kisokaido. In this design you barely see the bridge through the crowd of heads, bundles, etc. in the foreground. Lining the riverbank are the backs of stores and warehouses where boats are docked to unload goods. Hokusai uses an exaggerated Western-style perspective to pull the viewer into the vanishing point in the center of the picture like an uki-e (or perspective print), past warehouses to the Shogun’s palace and Mt. Fuji.
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