Japanese Print "Inume Pass in Kai Province" by Katsushika Hokusai
Artist:Katsushika Hokusai
Title:Inume Pass in Kai Province
Date:c. 1830 - 1834
Details:More information...
Source:Honolulu Museum of Art
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Description:
Fuji is viewed from the hillside of Inume Pass on the Köshü Road connecting the city of Köfu, in what is now Yamanashi prefecture, and Edo (present-day Tokyo). On the gentle slope at left, two travelers walk in front of two horses laden with cargo. Ahead of them, two more men ascend the steep hill. Fuji, covered with heavy fog at the base, looms against the pink sky. Its long, red-brown flanks reflect the sunlight, and the mountain’s upper reaches are blue toward the summit, where snow covers the cap. The key-block was printed in blue. (The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, HOKUSAI AND HIROSHIGE – Great Japanese Prints from the James A. Michener Collection, Honolulu Academy of Arts: The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 1998 Page 63. Cat. 14) ****************8 In the foreground, travelers ascend Inume Pass on the Köshü Road between the city of Köfu, in what is now Yamanashi Prefecture, and Edo (present-day Tokyo). The small figures are seen from a distance, making the focal point of the composition the peak of Mount Fuji. Although many of the prints in the Thirty-six Views that include human activity show Mount Fuji standing in the distance as a symbol of stability and protection, others take an opposite approach, emphasizing the ever-changing nature of Mount Fuji under varying weather conditions and in different seasons or times of day. Here the volcano rises through a thick layer of fog, changing to brown and then blue before reaching the snow-covered summit. The green and yellow rolling hills of the pass on the right provide a counterbalance to the form of the mountain placed slightly off-center to the left. “Hokusai’s Summit: Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji” (09/24/2009-01/06/2010) ******************************