100 views of Mt Fuji (Fugaku hyakkei), 3 vols.

100 views of Mt Fuji (Fugaku hyakkei), in three volumes, is one of Katsushika Hokusai's culminating projects, an illustrated book series in which the artist gathered a hundred different views of the sacred mountain. Conceived as a companion in spirit to his earlier Thirty-six Views and produced near the end of his career, the volumes present Fuji from every imaginable angle, glimpsed through a fisherman's net, framed by pine branches, observed by carpenters at work, reflected in a still inlet, or rising over a swirling cloud of dragons. While many Edo [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) books used color, Fugaku hyakkei is printed largely in black and gray with restrained ink wash, an aesthetic choice that aligns the project with literati painting and emphasizes drawing over pigment. The result is a meditative, almost philosophical catalogue of Fuji that influenced generations of Japanese and Western artists. The Art Institute of Chicago copy holds the three-volume set together, allowing the cumulative impact of the series to be experienced as Hokusai intended and offering a primary reference for understanding how Edo ukiyo-e absorbed and reshaped the longstanding cult of Mount Fuji in printed form.