Japanese Print "Unknown title" by Katsushika Hokusai

Title:Unknown title

Date:Not set

Source:Japanese Art Open Database
Browse all 17,130 prints...

Description:

Faguku Hyakkei--One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji. The three volumes whose covers are shown above contain the complete set of views. Each has its original yellow patterned cover, and green title slip. There is also a printed wrapper which encloses the set. This is a fresh copy of the Meiji edition published from the original blocks by Katano Tihiro in 1875 and 1876. Katano published the third volume first in a slightly smaller format (227 x 157mm) than volumes one and two (244 x 161mm). The blocks for the title slips were re-engraved for this edition, and the wrapper bears a different floral border. There is a large unread collector's mark on the covers. The original 3 volumes were published by Nishimuraya and Eirakuya Toshiro in 1834 (Vol 1), 1835 (Vol 2) and 1842 (Vol 3), Volumes 1 and 2 are signed "zen Hokusai Iitsu avatame Gakyorujin Manji hitsu. " Volume 3 is unsigned. The seal says: "Fuji no Yama. " Hokusai, at the height of his power, from the first, conceived this as his final expression of faith. In 1836 the Tenpo crisis caused a collapse of the print and book publishing market. Hokusai was so poor that he hawked his drawings on the street. I believe the blocks were sold by the publisher shortly after Hokusai's death. I am still researching the publication history of the blocks in the 25 years after Hokusai's death. Both scansincluded in this part of the page are from volume three which in my set is unstitched and therefore easy to copy. On the far right above, the enlarged detail shows the remarkable quality of these strikes. Complete sets of the 100 views are quite scarce in this very old edition. The images in this set have sharp blacks and whites. the papers are in very good condtion. Some images scanned from the other two volumes of my set are shown below. In Reply to: Meiji Editions of 100 Views of Mt. Fuji posted by Len Gottesman on January 03, 2002 at 10:10:50: Len, A brief summary of the publication of the 100 Views is provided by Henry Smith in his Hokusai: 100 Views of Mount Fuji (New York: Brazillier, 1988, pp. 21-22). He states that the Nagoya publisher Tohekido [that is, Eirakuya Toshiro], who in the late 1840s reissued vols. I-II and the first edition of vol. III, introduced a different edition from the original key blocks in the 1850s, but with recut color blocks (for the shades of gray and a new salmon-pink, with different patterns than in the original). Next, in the 1860s or early 1870s, he reissued the set again, but once more with the original color blocks (for the shades of gray). Then he published editions in December 1875 and January 1876. The blocks were subsequently acquired by the Tokyo publisher Yoshikawa Hanshichi and published yet again (the date is unknown to Smith). The original blocks survived until at least the Second World War, as an edition by Unsodo is known from 1943, using the badly worn original blocks. (Unsodo also issued recut facsimile editions in 1964-65.) Smith was unable to verify whether the original blocks still exist today. John

Download Image