is a
woodblock print
Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper. Each page or image is create ...
by the Japanese
ukiyo-e
Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surfac ...
artist
Hokusai
, known simply as Hokusai, was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, active as a painter and printmaker. He is best known for the woodblock printing in Japan, woodblock print series ''Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji'', which includes the ...
.
It was produced as one of the ''
Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji'' series which was published from in the late
Edo period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...
. The image is considered one of the masterpieces of the series, particularly in its early blue impression (''
aizuri-e
The term ''aizuri-e'' (Japanese: "blue printed picture") usually refers to Japanese woodblock prints that are printed entirely or predominantly in blue. When a second color is used, it is usually red. Even if only a single type of blue ink was ...
'').
Standing precariously upon a rocky outcrop, a man casts his net onto the violent
Fuji River at
Kajikazawa was a town located in Minamikoma District, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan.
As of 2003, the town had an estimated population of 4,402 and a density
Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. ...
.
Man and nature appear fused into one: The picture is full of movement, his tensed body mimics the motion of the waves below, and this curved shape is reflected in the rock on which he stands. The triangular shape made by the fishing lines also echoes that of
Mount Fuji
, or Fugaku, located on the island of Honshū, is the highest mountain in Japan, with a summit elevation of . It is the second-highest volcano located on an island in Asia (after Mount Kerinci on the island of Sumatra), and seventh-highest p ...
which is seen rising above.
The first impression employs the ''aizuri'' technique while later versions add different colours. The fisherman and son gain a red jacket, while the rocks are coloured with a gradated (''
bokashi)'' green-to-yellow wash. Some impressions add a streak of pink to the sky.
References
Works by Hokusai
Mount Fuji
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