36 Views of Mount Fuji, Mitsui Shop, Edo, Katsushika Hokusai, Japanese Print
The most interesting aspect of the print is its connection to money. Overtly, the print depicts a textile store that is well-visited by several customers and people of different classes. However, an examination of the location and the Mitsui name yields interesting connections to money beyond what can seen in the print. Echigoya, along with other Mitsui owned stores, used a strategy that was not employed in Japan previously. Traditionally, clothiers visited customers, took measurements and orders. Then the clothing was produced later and delivered back to the customer over the course of several days. At Echigoya, kimonos and other clothing were made first and sold at a fixed price. The clothing could be adjusted on site with some customers leaving with their order “after a short wait”
Katsushika Hokusai was a Japanese artist, ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period. Born in Edo (now Tokyo), Hokusai is best known as author of the woodblock print series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (富嶽三十六景 Fugaku Sanjūroku-kei, c. 1831) which includes the internationally iconic print, The Great Wave off Kanagawa.
Hokusai created the “Thirty-Six Views” both as a response to a domestic travel boom and as part of a personal obsession with Mount Fuji. It was this series, specifically The Great Wave print and Fine Wind, Clear Morning, that secured Hokusai’s fame both in Japan and overseas. As historian Richard Lane concludes, “Indeed, if there is one work that made Hokusai’s name, both in Japan and abroad, it must be this monumental print-series”. While Hokusai’s work prior to this series is certainly important, it was not until this series that he gained broad recognition.
All prints are made using archival art stocks and UV pigment inks to give up to 200 years life. Choose from unframed, framed and mounted and canvas panel options.
