View of Mount Fuji from across the Sea at Miho Bay in Suruga Province (Sunshu Fujisan Miho no kaijo yori chobo), from the series "Ten Views of Famous Mountains in the Provinces (Meizan tsukushi shokoku jukkei)"
- Date:
- c. 1844/46
- Medium:
View of Mount Fuji from across the Sea at Miho Bay in Suruga Province, from Utagawa Hiroshige's series Ten Views of Famous Mountains in the Provinces (Meizan tsukushi shokoku jukkei), dates to about 1839 and is held by the Art Institute of Chicago. The composition revisits the Miho-Fuji pairing that Hiroshige had been refining since the early 1830s, but here within a project devoted to celebrated mountains seen from each region of Japan. The sacred volcano rises in cool blue silhouette beyond the wide expanse of Suruga Bay, while the pine-lined spit of Miho no Matsubara curves into the middle distance. Sailing vessels with patched and striped sails dot the bay, anchoring the scene in the practical maritime life of Edo-period Tokaido travel. As a landscape print, the work shows Hiroshige's command of the long horizontal vista within a vertical sheet, stacking sky, mountain, sea, beach, and pines into a single, breathable space. The bokashi printing - those graded blue bands across the sky and water - was a hallmark technique of Edo ukiyo-e by this date, and Hiroshige uses it to suggest distance, weather, and the cool light of morning or late afternoon. The Ten Views series situated Fuji within a national geography of meizan, or famous mountains, encouraging viewers to read each print as both topography and poetic homage. By naming the province and approach in its title, Hiroshige underscored the cultural geography that armchair travelers in Edo could now access through woodblock prints, and confirmed his standing as the era's premier landscape interpreter of Suruga Bay.
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.
View of Mount Fuji from across the Sea at Miho Bay in Suruga Province (Sunshu Fujisan Miho no kaijo yori chobo), from the series "Ten Views of Famous Mountains in the Provinces (Meizan tsukushi shokoku jukkei)" was created by Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川広重) in c. 1844/46.
View of Mount Fuji from across the Sea at Miho Bay in Suruga Province (Sunshu Fujisan Miho no kaijo yori chobo), from the series "Ten Views of Famous Mountains in the Provinces (Meizan tsukushi shokoku jukkei)" depicts landscapes and mount fuji.
