Appearance of Mount Fuji in the 5th Year of Korei (Korei gonen Fujimine shutsugen), a detached page from Volume 1 of Katsushika Hokusai's One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku hyakkei) published in 1834, illustrates one of the most extraordinary legends in Japanese mythology. According to ancient chronicles, Mount Fuji rose miraculously from the earth in the fifth year of the legendary Emperor Korei, accompanied by violent upheavals of land and sky. Hokusai depicts the moment of emergence with explosive energy: the mountain bursts upward through a chaos of clouds and rock, while terrified human figures flee or fall to their knees in the foreground. The composition encapsulates Hokusai's late vision of Fuji as not only a serene landmark but a cosmic event in Japanese history, a sacred peak whose origin lies in the mythic time of emperors and gods. As a master of Edo ukiyo-e and the leading designer of Fugaku hyakkei, Hokusai uses the monochrome ehon palette to maximum dramatic effect, letting line and ink carry the violence of the scene without polychrome distractions. This is the kind of mythological subject that distinguishes Fugaku hyakkei from the more famous Thirty-Six Views and shows the depth of Hokusai's engagement with Japan's sacred geography. The Harvard Art Museums preserve this detached page, where the impression remains crisp. For collectors, it is an essential example of Hokusai's late ukiyo-e print imagination at full mythic intensity.
1821
Color woodblock print with metallic pigments; surimono shikishiban
1822
Color woodblock print; shikishiban, surimono
1822
Color woodblock print; shikishiban, surimono
c. 1832
Color woodblock print; oban
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
1934
Color woodblock print; oban
n.d.
Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Appearance of Mount Fuji in the 5th Year of Kōrei (Kōrei gonen Fujimine shutsugen): Detatched page from One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku hyakkei) Vol. 1 was created by Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾北斎) in Edo period, 1834 (Tempō 5).
Appearance of Mount Fuji in the 5th Year of Kōrei (Kōrei gonen Fujimine shutsugen): Detatched page from One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku hyakkei) Vol. 1 depicts landscapes and mount fuji.