Hokusai, Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji
Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (富嶽三十六景, Fugaku Sanjūrokkei) is an ukiyo-e (浮世絵, pictures of the floating world) series of large, colour woodblock prints created between 1826 and 1833 by the Japanese master of the brush and skilled draftsman, Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). This series marked the beginning of Hokusai's courtship of the great mountain regarded as the source of the secret of immortality, and his effort to capture Fuji from a variety of different places and distances, in different seasons, weather conditions and telling context. The first 36 were included in the original publication and, due to their popularity, ten more were added after the original publication.
Hokusai drew each of the images on paper, or, more precisely, onto washi, the Japanese paper, and then he glued them onto a plank of wood, usually cherry wood, using the outlines given by the drawings for cutting the wood block. Hokusai followed the Nishiki-e (錦絵, brocade pictures) method of using multiple blocks for separate portions of the image, allowing him to use a wide range of colours, and to achieve incredibly complex and detailed images.
All images are faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art that are in the public domain.
Original thirty-six 1:32
1. The Great Wave Off Kanagawa 1:37
2. South Wind, Clear Sky (also known as Red Fuji) 1:45
3. Rainstorm Beneath the Summit 1:53
4. Under Mannen Bridge at Fukagawa 2:01
5. Sundai, Edo 2:09
6. The Blue Mountain and Circle of Pine Trees 2:17
7. Senju, Musashi Province 2:25
8. Inume Pass, Kōshū 2:33
9. Fuji View Field in Owari Province 2:41
10. Ejiri in the Suruga Province 2:49
11. A Sketch of the Mitsui Shop in Suruga in Edo 2:57
12. Sunset Across the Ryōgoku Bridge from the Bank of the Sumida River at Onmayagashi 3:05
13. Sazai Hall - Temple of Five Hundred Rakan 3:13
14. Tea House at Koishikawa. The Morning After a Snowfall 3:21
15. Below Meguro 3:29
16. Watermill at Onden 3:37
17. Enoshima in Sagami Province 3:45
18. Shore of Tago Bay, Ejiri at Tōkaidō 3:53
19. Yoshida at Tōkaidō 4:01
20. The Kazusa Province Sea Route 4:09
21. Nihonbashi Bridge in Edo 4:17
22. Barrier Town on the Sumida River 4:25
23. Bay of Noboto 4:33
24. The Lake of Hakone in Sagami Province 4:41
25. Mount Fuji Reflects in Lake Kawaguchi, Seen from the Misaka Pass in Kai Province 4:49
26. Hodogaya on the Tōkaidō 4:57
27. Tama River in Musashi Province 5:05
28. Asakusa Hongan-ji Temple in the Eastern Capital [Edo] 5:13
29. Tsukuda Island in Musashi Province 5:21
30. Shichiri Beach in Sagami Province 5:29
31. Umegawa in Sagami Province 5:37
32. Kajikazawa in Kai Province 5:45
33. Mishima Pass in Kai Province 5:53
34. Mount Fuji from the Mountains of Tōtōmi 6:01
35. Lake Suwa in Shinano Province 6:09
36. Ushibori in Hitachi Province 6:17
Additional ten 6:25
b1. Goten-yama-hill, Shinagawa on the Tōkaidō 6:30
b2. Honjo Tatekawa, the Timberyard at Honjo 6:38
b3. Pleasure District at Senju 6:46
b4. Nakahara in Sagami Province 6:54
b5. Ōno Shinden in the Suruga Province 7:02
b6. Climbing on Fuji 7:10
b7. The Tea Plantation of Katakura in Suruga Province 7:18
b8. The Fuji from Kanaya on the Tōkaidō 7:26
b9. Dawn at Isawa in Kai Province 7:34
b10. The Back of Fuji from the Minobu River 7:42
Music: Etenraku, performed by The Kyoto Imperial Court Music Orchestra of Japan, is a Gagaku (雅楽, elegant, correct, or refined music) style, Hyojo mode, piece. Gagaku is the traditional court music of Japan. It consists of three primary bodies: Saibara, Komagaku, and Togaku. When the music is played alone it is called Kangen, and when accompanied with a dance it is called Bugaku. It has been played since the sixth century, and is Japan's oldest orchestral art music. It is the music played whenever an important member of the royal class makes an entrance, and is rarely performed in public. But, I think that all classes must be abolished, so here it is dedicated to Mount Fuji, Katsushika Hokusai and his works, and YOU ALL!
All I have produced before the age of seventy is not worth taking into account. At seventy-three I have learned a little about the real structure of nature, of animals, plants, trees, birds, fishes and insects. In consequence when I am eighty, I shall have made still more progress. At ninety I shall penetrate the mystery of things; at one hundred I shall certainly have reached a marvelous stage; and when I am a hundred and ten, everything I do, be it a dot or a line, will be alive. I beg those who live as long as I to see if I do not keep my word. Written at the age of seventy five by me, once Hokusai, today Gwakyo Rojin, the old man mad about drawing.