Fishing by Torch in Kai Province (Koshu hiburi) from the series "One Thousand Pictures of the Ocean (Chie no umi)"

Fishing by Torch in Kai Province (Koshu hiburi) is a Katsushika Hokusai ukiyo-e print from the series One Thousand Pictures of the Ocean (Chie no umi), produced around 1828 and held in the Art Institute of Chicago. Although Kai Province lies inland, ringed by mountains and far from the sea, its rivers and lakes supported their own night-fishing economies in which torches lured fish to the surface to be netted or speared. Hokusai depicts a small boat manned by fishermen working under the heavy orange light of pine torches, the smoke rising into the night and the flame reflected against dark water. The composition contrasts intense local illumination with the deep blue of surrounding darkness, an effect made possible by the careful tonal printing of imported Prussian blue pigment alongside warmer pigments. The design reflects Hokusai's interest in nocturnal subjects and the dramatic theatricality of light at the edge of darkness. As part of the Chie no umi project, the print pulls inland fisheries into the same conceptual ocean as the cresting waves of Choshi or the great Pacific swell off Kanagawa, suggesting that water and human labor link every Japanese landscape. As an Edo ukiyo-e print, the work demonstrates Katsushika Hokusai's command of mood, color, and atmosphere. The Art Institute of Chicago preserves this ukiyo-e print as part of its substantial Hokusai holdings.