earth science

Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji

Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji rather than just read about it. In short: Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Japanese: 富嶽三十六景, Hepburn: Fugaku Sanjūrokkei) is a series of landscape prints by the Japanese ukiyo-e artist Hokusai (1760–1849). The series depicts Mount Fuji from different locations and in various seasons and weather conditions.

Key takeaways

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Reference excerpt

Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Japanese: 富嶽三十六景, Hepburn: Fugaku Sanjūrokkei) is a series of landscape prints by the Japanese ukiyo-e artist Hokusai (1760–1849). The series depicts Mount Fuji from different locations and in various seasons and weather conditions. The immediate success of the publication led to another ten prints being added to the series. The series was produced from c. 1830 to 1832, when Hokusai was in his seventies and at the height of his career, and published by Nishimura Yohachi. Among the prints are three of Hokusai's most famous: The Great Wave off Kanagawa, Fine Wind, Clear Morning, and Thunderstorm Beneath the Summit. The lesser-known Kajikazawa in Kai Province is also considered one of the series' best works. The Thirty-six Views has been described as the artist's "indisputable colour-print masterpiece".

History Mount Fuji is a popular subject for Japanese art due to its cultural and religious significance. This belief can be traced to The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, where a goddess deposits the elixir of life on the peak. As the historian 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." Each image was made through a process whereby Hokusai's drawing on paper was glued to a woodblock to guide the carving. The original design is therefore lost in the process. The block was then covered with ink and applied to paper to create the image (see Woodblock printing in Japan for further details). The complexity of Hokusai's images includes the wide range of colors he used, which required the use of a separate block for each color appearing in the image. The earliest prints in the series were made with largely blue tones (aizuri-e), including the key blocks which provide an image's outlines. Prussian blue pigment had not long before been introduced to Japan from Europe and Hokusai used it extensively, ensuring its popularity. Once the publisher, Nishimura, was sure of the series' success, prints were made with multiple colours (nishiki-e). Nishimura had planned to expand the series to more than a hundred prints, but publication stopped at forty-six. The most famous single image from the series is widely known in English as The Great Wave off Kanagawa. It is Hokusai's most celebrated work and is often considered the most recognizable work of Japanese art in the world. Another iconic work from Thirty-six Views is Fine Wind, Clear Morning, also known as Red Fuji, which has been described as "one of the simplest and at the same time one of the most outstanding of all Japanese prints".

Influence While Hokusai's Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji is the most famous ukiyo-e series to focus on Mount Fuji, there are several other works with the same subject, including Hiroshige's later series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji and Hokusai's subsequent book One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji (published 1834–1835). In his 1896 book on Hokusai, French art critic Edmond de Goncourt wrote that despite its "rather crude colors", it was, "the album which inspires the landscapes of the impressionists of the present moment." The French artist Henri Rivière (1864–1951) published the set of color lithographs "Thirty-six views of the Tour Eiffel" in 1902, inspired by the seminal print set of Hokusai, one of the many influences of Japanese art on late 19th century and early 20th century French art (Japonism, known as "Japonisme" in French)

Prints

Original thirty-six

Additional 10

Exhibitions A collection of Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji prints contained in the wellness spa of the Costa Concordia was lost when the ship sank on January 13, 2012. In the spring of 2012, all forty-six prints (the original thirty-six plus the ten additions) were featured in the exhibition Hokusai: 36 Views of Mount Fuji at the National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, D.C.. The Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji prints were displayed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston as part of a Hokusai exhibit from 5 April to 9 August, 2015. The Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji prints were displayed at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia as part of a Hokusai exhibit from 21 July through 22 October 2017. The exhibit featured two copies of The Great Wave off Kanagawa, one from the NGV and one from Japan Ukiyo-e Museum. There are fewer than 10 complete sets of the Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, with prominent pieces held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MFA Boston, the British Museum, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Markets Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji is often sold in prominent auction houses focused on Japanese art, such as that of Christie's, Sotheby's, Bonhams, etc. In 2002, a complete set sold at Sotheby's went for $1.47 million, through an anonymous buyer. In 2013, another complete set was assembled by Dr. Jitendra V. Singh, a professor from Wharton School, who was inspired by Mt. Fuji from seeing the mountain on flights to Japan as well as his previous Hindu pilgrimages to Mount Everest and Mount Kailash. He purchased Fuji Seen From Kanaya on the Tokaido first, with the iconic pieces acquired from 2014 to 2016, the final print was acquired in January 2023. On 19 March 2024, the Singh collection went onto auction at Christie's, which then sold for $3.559 million from an estimated bid of $3–5 million. The proceeds has gone into Singh's trust.

See also One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji Three Views of Japan Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji by Hiroshige

Notes

References Balcou, Amelie (2019). "Hokusai: Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji". Prestel. ISBN 978-3791386072. Calza, Gian Carlo (2003). Hokusai. Phaidon. ISBN 0714844578. Marks, Andreas (2021). "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji". New York: Taschen. ISBN 978-3836575720. Nagata, Seiji (1999). Hokusai: Genius of the Japanese Ukiyo-e. Tokyo: Kodansha. Price, Jonathan Reeve (2020). "Viewing Hokusai Viewing Mount Fuji". Albuquerque, New Mexico: Communication Circle. ISBN 978-0-9719954-7-5. Smith, Henry D. II (1988). Hokusai: One Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji. New York: George Braziller, Inc., Publishers. ISBN 0-8076-1195-6. Thompson, Sarah (2019). "Hokusai's Landscapes: The Complete Series". Boston: MFA Publications. ISBN 978-0878468669. Zelazny, Roger (1985). "24 Views of Mount Fuji". In Cthulu 2000: Stories (1995). Sauk City, WI: Arkham House. ISBN 978-0345422033.

External links

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Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji

In research: Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1832 works, Eight Views, Landscape prints, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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Frequently asked questions

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