April 2017

Japanese woodblock art, ‘The lake of Hakone in Sagami Province’ by Katsushika Hokusai

28.The lake of Hakone in Sagami Province     One of the ukiyo-e art series “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji” by Katsushika Hokusai. Sagami Proveince was the name in the ancient times and it located today’s Kanagawa Prefecture.   The lake of Hakone, Ashinoko Lake has no ripple on the surface. The thick forest and the trailing […]

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‘Umezawa in Sagami Province’ art painting by Katsushika Hokusai

27.Umezawa in Sagami Province     Umezawa was the place at the skirts of Mt. Fuji. In the landscape picture, only the five birds was added to set off the whole image. Sagami Province located on today’s Kanagawa Prefecture.   Blue Mt. Fuji and the red-crowned cranes, the mist hangs over. The pale pink of the mist

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Katsushika Hokusai’s artwork, ‘Nakahara in Sagami Province’

26.Nakahara in Sagami Province     Located in the middle of the Sagami Plain, Nakahara was the current city of Hiratsuka. The alley through the ukiyo-e print leads to Mt. Oyama which is visible in front of Mt. Fuji. Mt. Oyama was a place of Shinto and Buddhist consolation, attracted popularity among the common people to visit in the

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Mount Fuji art painting, ‘Enoshima in Sagami Province’ by Katsushika Hokusai

25.Enoshima in Sagami Province     Located in the distant view is Enoshima, and we can see the five-story pagoda at Ryukoji Temple in the forest of young leaves. In the low tide time zone, the worshipers for the temple are walking along the sandbar of the sea. The souvenir shops and the inns are on the shore.   This

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‘Shichiri beach in Sagami Province’ art by Katsushika Hokusai

24.Shichiri beach in Sagami Province   This woodblock print by Hokusai doesn’t have any person in the image and shows a pure landscape painting.  It is a work of the first version drawn with only the shading of Prussian Blue. It expresses with only in one color the powerfulness of the summer. The sunlight, the reflecting sea level, and

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Mt. Fuji art print, ‘Hodogaya on the Tōkaidō’ by Katsushika Hokusai

23.Hodogaya on the Tōkaidō     One of the series Mt. Fuji print  of “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji“, Hodogaya on the Tōkaidō shows the state of the road in Edo Period.     The mendicant Zen priest passes by, the person travels on the horse, the woman rides on the kago, and the palanquin bearers wipes sweat or ties his straw sandal. Mt. Fuji shows its appearance

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Katsushika Hokusai’s art print, ‘Tama River in Musashi Province’

22.Tama River in Musashi Province     In Edo Period, when the author of “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji” Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) lives, there were the only two bridges on Tama River, the Rokugo Bridge (Oota-ku and Kawasaki-shi) and the Mannen Bridge (Okutama-cho and Ome-shi). Because of the military defense reasons, the Edo shogunate did not build

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‘Goten-yama-hill, Shinagawa on the Tōkaidō’ painting by Katsushika Hokusai

20.Goten-yama-hill, Shinagawa on the Tōkaidō     Goten-yama-hill at Shinagawa was famous for the beautiful cherry blossoms in the Edo period. Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) made a lot of ukiyo-e about cherry blossom, but Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) drew just one work in the series of “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji“.   Not only the pale pink of the blossoms attract

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Mt. Fuji art, Ushibori in Hitachi Province by Katsushika Hokusai

19.Ushibori in Hitachi Province     The ukiyo-e printing depicts the Lake Kasumigaura in the early morning. As the cold colors underlie, this artwork is the scene of the winter and express the freezing weather. A man is pouring away the water that has been used to wash rice to the lake from the boat with the roof.

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Katsushika Hokusai’s Mount Fuji artwork, ‘Bay of Noboto’

18.Bay of Noboto   People are gathering the shells in shallows of Bay of Noboto. The two Torii of Towatari Shrine in the sea. They still locate in today’s Chiba-shi, Chiba Prefecture. But they was moved before and not in the sea now. They take a similar figure and the simple line of Mt. Fuji is placed

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