Mount Fuji in Japanese Woodblock Prints

富士山

Mount Fuji is the most-depicted natural landmark in Japanese woodblock printing. From Hokusai's 1830s 'Thirty-Six Views' through Hiroshige's responses, Hiroshi Yoshida's atmospheric travel series, and Kawase Hasui's dawn studies, Fuji anchors landscape printmaking across every major movement.

About This Collection

When Katsushika Hokusai began his 'Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji' around 1830, he was not the first to depict the sacred mountain — but he established a visual vocabulary that the next 200 years of Japanese printmaking would draw on. The series' indigo skies, geometric compositions, and treatment of Fuji as both subject and background simultaneously remade landscape ukiyo-e and exported a Japanese silhouette to the world.

Hiroshige's response — his own thirty-six and one-hundred-views Fuji series — favoured atmosphere over geometry: weather, season, and the human business of the road in front of the mountain. The shin-hanga generation that followed Watanabe Shōzaburō's revival publishing programme in the 1910s and 1920s pushed further still. Hiroshi Yoshida painted Fuji from Lake Kawaguchi at six different times of day. Kawase Hasui returned to the mountain repeatedly across snow, rain, and dawn. Even sōsaku-hanga modernists who otherwise rejected ukiyo-e iconography kept Fuji.

This collection gathers every Fuji-tagged print in the Hanga catalogue. Browse to compare how a single mountain has been re-framed across the Edo, Meiji, Taishō, and Shōwa eras — or to see why certain compositions, once viewed in series, repay study far more than they do in isolation.

Prints in This Collection (60)

Lake Kugushi in Wakasa Province (Wakasa Kugushiko), from the series Souvenirs of Travel I (Tabi miyage dai isshu)"

Wakasa Kugushiko

1920

Color woodblock print; oban

Autumn Maple Leaves at Takao, from the album Eight Views of Kyoto (Kyôto hakkei)

Woodblock print

The Beach at Kaiganji in Sanuki Province (Sanuki Kaiganji no hama), from the series "Collection of Views of Japan II, Kansai Edition (Nihon fukei shu II Kansai hen)"

1934

Color woodblock print; oban

Tea Kettle, section of a sheet from the series "Mirror of Stone Rubbings of Views of the Provinces" (Kohon meihitsu ishizuri kagami)

n.d.

Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet

Pacific Ocean, Awa Province (Boshu Taikai), from the series "Souvenirs of Travel, Third Series (Tabi miyage dai sanshu)"

Boshu Taikai

1925

Color woodblock print; oban

Palace of the Queen Mother of the West (Seiōbo, Ch. Xiwangmu)

ca. 1779-94

No. 2: Ushiwakamaru Learns Swordsplay from the Tengu at Sojogatani on Mount Kurama (Nikai, Kuramayama Sojogatani ni oite Ushiwakamaru ijin yori kenpo o manabu), from the series "The Life of Yoshitsune (Yoshitsune ichidai zue)"

c. 1832/34

Color woodblock print; oban

View of Kabuki Theater from Matsuya (Ginza Matsuya yori Kabukiza), no. 3 from the series "Pictures of Ginza, First Series (Gashu Ginza dai isshu)"

1928

Color lithograph

Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)"

1947

Color woodblock print; oban

Hoshifuri Pine at Zen'yoji Temple in Edogawa (Edogawa-ku Zen'yoji Hoshifuri matsu), from the series "One Hundred Views of Great Tokyo in the Showa Era (Showa dai Tokyo fukei hyaku zue hanga)"

1935

Color woodblock print; oban

Pine Beach at Miho (Miho no Matsubara), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)"

September 1931

Color woodblock print; oban

Seto, Bishu, from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido" (Tokaido fukei senshu, Bishu Seto)

March 1934

Color woodblock print

Setting Sun over Pines, Suzukawa Beach (Tokaido fukei senshu, Matsu no sekiyo (Suzukawa kaigan)), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido"

1940

Color woodblock print

Distant View of Mitsukoshi Movie Theater in Shinjuku from the Sixth Floor of Hoteiya (Hoteiya rokkai kara Shinjuku Mitsukoshi Musashi no kan enbo zu), no. 1 from the series "Scenery of Shinjuku (Gashu Shinjuku fukei)"

1930

Color lithograph

Tokaido, Nissaka, from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido" (Tokaido fukei senshu, Tokaido Nissaka)

1942

Color woodblock print

Tokaido, Shimada, from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido" (Tokaido fukei senshu, Tokaido Shimada)

1942

Color woodblock print

Tokaido, Utsunoya, from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)"

1947

Color woodblock print; oban

Evening Moon at Nakanoshima, Sapporo (Sapporo Nakanoshima no yuzuki), from the series "Collection of Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition (Nihon fukei shu higashi Nihon hen)"

March 1933

Color woodblock print; oban

Hachinohe-Same, from the series "Collection of Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition (Nihon fukei shu higashi Nihon hen)"

1933

Color woodblock print; oban

Shin Ohashi Bridge (Shin Ohashi), from the series "Twenty View of Tokyo (Tokyu nijukkei)"

1926

Color woodblock print; oban

Tsuta Hot Springs in Mutsu Province (Mutsu Tsuta onsen), from the series "Souvenirs of Travel, First Series (Tabi miyage dai isshu)"

Mutsu Tsuta onsen

1919

Color woodblock print; oban

Nakabusa River Rapids

1926

Color woodblock print

Honjo in Izumo Province (Izumo Honjo)

August 1932

Color woodblock print; o-tanzaku

Akashi-cho after Rain (Akashi-cho no ugo), from the series "Twenty Views of Tokyo (Tokyo nijukkei)"

1928

Color woodblock print; oban

Beach Shed at Himi in Etchū Province

September 6, 1921

Woodblock print, ink and color on paper

Azuma Gorge (Azuma kyo)

1943

Color woodblock print

Twilight Snow at Uchikawa (Uchikawa bosetsu), from the series Eight Views of Kanazawa (Kanazawa hakkei)

20th century

Woodblock print; ink and color on paper

View of Asakusa in Snow (Asakusa secchū no zu), from the series Famous Places of Edo (Edo meisho no uchi)

19th century

Ukiyo-e woodblock print; ink and color on paper

KANTEN, landscape in Okinawa

Woodblock print

Evening at Tago Bay (Tago no ura no yube), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)"

1940

Color woodblock print; oban

Fujiyama-First Light of the Sun, from the series "Ten Views of Fuji"

1926

Color woodblock print

Hirosaki Castle, from the series "Eight Views of Cherry Blossoms"

1935

Color woodblock print

Sanuki Province

Stone and Brick Construction at Kyobashi

Yase no Sato

Kanbara: Evening Snow (Kanbara, yoru no yuki), from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi no uchi)," also known as the Hoeido Tokaido

c. 1833/34

Color woodblock print; oban

Landscape with Ricefields

1957

Woodblock print

Kanda Myojin Shrine Precent, from the series "Twenty Views of Tokyo" (Tokyo nijukei, Kanda Myojin keidai)

1926

Color woodblock print

Kinosaki in Tajima Province

1924

Woodblock print, ink and color on paper

TWO BIRDS ON A BRANCH

View of Tokyo (Shore with Boats)

19th century

Ink on paper

Seaside Cottage, Himi, Etchu, from the series "Souvenirs of Travel, Second Series" (Tabi miyage dai nishu, Hama shooku (Etchu Himi))

6 September 1921

Color woodblock print

Kiyomizu Hall, Ueno, from the series "Twenty Views of Tokyo" (Tokyo nijukei, Ueno Kiyomizudo)

1928

Color woodblock print

Army Headquarters Building

Fireworks at Ryogoku Bridge

Fujjikawa #38

Kude Beach in Wakasa Province (Wakasa Kude no hama), from the series "Souvenirs of Travel, First Series (Tabi miyage dai isshu)"

1920

Color woodblock print; oban

Kyonghoe Hall, Kyongsong (Keijo Keikaro), from the series "Eight Views of Korea (Chosen hakkei)"

November 1939

Color woodblock print; oban

Matsubara Lake in Shinano Province (Shinshu Matsubarako)

1941

Color woodblock print; oban

Two Fish

19th century

Paper

View of Tokyo, Snow Scene

19th century

British Legation on the Shores of Yokohama Harbour

Great Bridge at Senju

Night Scene at Matsuchiyama

Scene of Soga Brothers

Moon at Umagome, from the series "Twenty Views of Tokyo" (Tokyo nijukei, Uragome no tsuki)

1930

Color woodblock print

Major General Odera Fighting Fiercely at the Hundred Foot Cliff in Weihaiwei (Ikaiei hyakusekigaisho ni Odera shosho funsen su)

1895

Color woodblock print; oban triptych

Tokyo Port Wild Bird Park (One Hundred Views of Tokyo, Message to the 21st Century)

東京百景 21世紀へのメッセージ

1989-99

Woodblock print, zinc anastic plate on paper

Kaga Sanchu, Taishô period?

Woodblock print

April (Arashiyama Park, a Famous Scenic Resort)

四月 (嵐山)

second half 20th century

Woodblock print, ink and color on paper

Frequently Asked Questions

Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) made the most famous Mount Fuji prints in his 'Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji' series (c. 1830–1832), which includes 'The Great Wave off Kanagawa.' Utagawa Hiroshige produced his own Fuji series in response, and Hiroshi Yoshida and Kawase Hasui continued the tradition into the twentieth-century shin-hanga movement.

Hokusai's series originally contained 36 prints, but ten additional designs were added due to popular demand, bringing the total to 46. The supplementary prints are sometimes catalogued as the 'ten extra views' or 'reverse Fuji.'

Mount Fuji is sacred in Shintō and Buddhist traditions, served as a national symbol during the Edo period when domestic travel was restricted, and provided a dramatic geometric anchor that printmakers could compose against. Its near-perfect cone made it a recognisable shorthand for Japan itself in prints exported to nineteenth-century Europe.

Yes. Shin-hanga prints — including Hiroshi Yoshida's and Kawase Hasui's Fuji works — are made using the same multi-block hand-printed process as ukiyo-e, with separate blocks for each colour and traditional baren burnishing. They differ from ukiyo-e in their early-twentieth-century date and Western-influenced composition, not in technique.