is an ukiyo-e series of 46 large, color woodblock prints by the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849). The series depicts Mount Fuji in differing seasons and weather conditions from a variety of different places and distances. It actually consists of 46 prints created between 1826 and 1833. The first 36 were included in the original publication and, due to their popularity, 10 more were added after the original publication.

History

While Hokusai's 36 Views of Mount Fuji is the most famous Ukiyo-e series to focus on Mount Fuji, there are several other series with the same subject, including 36 Views of Mount Fuji, by Hiroshige, and 100 View of Mount Fuji, also by Hokusai. Mount Fuji is a popular subject for Japanese art due to its cultural and religious significance. This belief can be traced to the The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, where a goddess deposits the elixir of life on the peak. As 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."

The most famous single image from the series is widely known in English as , although a more literal translation might be, "Off Kanagawa, the back (or underside) of a wave." It depicts three boats being threatened by a large wave while Mount Fuji rises in the background. While generally assumed to be a tsunami, the wave was probably intended to simply be a large ocean wave.

Each of the images was made through a process whereby an image drawn on paper was used to guide the cutting of a wood block. This 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 series of blocks for each of the colors used in the images.

Prints

Original 36

№	Image	English title	Japanese title
1		The Great Wave off Kanagawa	Kanagawa oki nami-ura
2		South Wind, Clear Sky (also known as Red Fuji)	Gaifū kaisei
3		Rainstorm Beneath the Summit	Sanka hakū
4		Under Mannen Bridge at Fukagawa	Fukagawa Mannen-bashi shita
5		Sundai, Edo	Tōto sundai
6		Aoyama Enza no Matsu	Aoyama enza-no-matsu
7		Senju, Musashi Province	Bushū Senju
8		Inume Pass, Kōshū	Kōshū inume-tōge
9		Fuji View Field in Owari Province	Bishū Fujimigahara
10		Ejiri in the Suruga Province	Sunshū Ejiri
11		A sketch of the Mitsui shop in Suruga in Edo	Kōto Suruga-cho Mitsui Miseryakuzu
12		Sunset across the Ryōgoku bridge from the bank of the Sumida River at Onmayagashi	Ommayagashi yori ryōgoku-bashi yūhi mi
13		Sazai hall - Temple of Five Hundred Rakan	Gohyaku-rakanji Sazaidō
14		Tea house at Koishikawa. The morning after a snowfall	Koishikawa yuki no ashita
15		Shimomeguro	Shimo-Meguro
16		Watermill at Onden	Onden no suisha
17		Enoshima in Sagami Province	Soshū Enoshima
18		Shore of Tago Bay, Ejiri at Tōkaidō	Tōkaidō Ejiri tago-no-ura
19		Yoshida at Tōkaidō	Tōkaidō Yoshida
20		The Kazusa Province sea route	Kazusa no kairo
21		Nihonbashi bridge in Edo	Edo Nihon-bashi
22		Village of Sekiya at Sumida River	Sumidagawa Sekiya no sato
23		Bay of Noboto	Noboto-ura
24		The lake of Hakone in Sagami Province	Sōshū Hakone kosui
25		Mount Fuji reflects in Lake Kawaguchi, seen from the Misaka Pass in Kai Province	Kōshū Misaka suimen
26		Hodogaya on the Tōkaidō	Tōkaidō Hodogaya
27		Tama River in Musashi Province	Bushū Tamagawa
28		Asakusa Hongan-ji temple in the Eastern capital [Edo]	Tōto Asakusa honganji
29		Tsukuda Island in Musashi Province	Buyō Tsukuda-jima
30		Shichiri beach in Sagami Province	Soshū Shichiri-ga-hama
31		Umegawa in Sagami Province	Soshū umezawanoshō
32		Kajikazawa in Kai Province	Kōshū Kajikazawa
33		Mishima Pass in Kai Province	Kōshū Mishima-goe
34		Mount Fuji from the mountains of Tōtōmi	Tōtōmi sanchū
35		Lake Suwa in Shinano Province	Shinshū Suwa-ko
36		Ushibori in Hitachi Province	Jōshū Ushibori

Additional 10

№	Image	English title	Japanese title
1		Goten-yama-hill, Shinagawa on the Tōkaidō	Tōkaidō Shinagawa Goten'yama no Fuji
2		Honjo Tatekawa, the timberyard at Honjo	Honjo Tatekawa
3		Pleasure District at Senju	Senju Hana-machi Yori Chōbō no Fuji
4		Nakahara in Sagami Province	Sōshū Nakahara
5		Ōno Shinden in the Suruga Province	Sunshū Ōno-shinden
6		Climbing on Fuji	Shojin tozan
7		The Tea plantation of Katakura in Suruga Province	Sunshū Katakura chaen no Fuji
8		The Fuji from Kanaya on the Tōkaidō	Tōkaidō Kanaya no Fuji
9		Dawn at Isawa in Kai Province	Kōshū Isawa no Akatsuki
10		The back of Fuji from the Minobu river	Minobu-gawa ura Fuji

Notes

References

• Nagata, Seiji (1999). Hokusai: Genius of the Japanese Ukiyo-e. Kodansha, Tokyo.
• Smith, Henry D. II (1988). Hokusai: One Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji. George Braziller, Inc., Publishers, New York. ISBN 0807611956.

External links

• Hokusai's 36 Views of Mount Fuji
• A short biography of Hokusai including a section on the 36 Views of Mt. Fuji series.
• Jim Breen's ukiyo-e page on Hokusai and the 36 Views
• 葛飾北斎の富士山・富嶽三十六景