One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku hyakkei), Vol. 2

This Volume 2 of One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku hyakkei) preserves a later impression of Katsushika Hokusai's celebrated illustrated book. Originally issued in the mid 1830s, the multi-volume Fugaku hyakkei project surveys the sacred mountain through more than a hundred designs that move from quiet meditative views to dramatic mythological scenes. Volume 2 features many of the series' most reproduced compositions, including pages in which Fuji is glimpsed through pine groves, beyond city walls, framed by dragons, or seen by laborers, pilgrims, and farmers. Working at the height of his career as a master of Edo ukiyo-e, Hokusai forsakes the polychrome palette of his Thirty-Six Views in favor of ink and limited tonal accents, focusing attention on linear invention and pictorial structure. The result is one of the most influential examples of the Japanese ukiyo-e print tradition, frequently cited by later Japanese and Western artists for its compositional daring. Later impressions such as this one continue to circulate Hokusai's vision, demonstrating the long afterlife of his designs through subsequent printings. The Harvard Art Museums preserve this volume within a wider holding of Hokusai's books, allowing scholars to compare states and editions. For collectors, owning a Volume 2 of Fugaku hyakkei provides direct access to the visual encyclopedia of Mount Fuji that defined how the mountain entered the global imagination.