Hokusai’s Great Wave, arguably one of the world’s most iconic works of art, is towering so high, you can easily overlook the fact that at the time of publication in 1830 this striking woodblock print was only the first of a greater series, titled Thirty-six Views Of Mount Fuji.
This is more than just a collection of landscape art. Hokusai chronicled many aspects of life in Japan’s Edo Period: Farming, fishing, building, crafts, travel, labour and leisure are shown in rich detail and in the light of ever changing weather and seasons. With all this human activity set against the distant backdrop of the sacred mountain the series evokes a sense of impermanence, which is typical for the art of Ukiyo-e (“pictures of the floating world”).
I have never seen Mount Fuji myself, but I was lucky enough to live in Portland, where the vistas of Mount Hood from the greater city area inevitably made me want to capture my own Thirty-six Views.
In three years – my camera and a postcard edition of the original always at hand – I have made it pretty far. But much like Hokusai himself, who kept adding more views for the rest of his life, I don’t think I will ever be done.