36 views of Fuji (Hokusai, marinas)

[Anatol]

Hokusai began to make the first sketches for this series in 1830, when he was about 70 years old. Hokusai from the very beginning of his work was aware of the significance of his engravings: in the preface to his book “100 Views of Mount Fuji”, he wrote that nothing he had created over the previous 70 years could compare with them. However, both he and the series' publisher, Nishimura Yohachi, were amazed at the success of the series.
The series "36 Views of Fuji" for K. Hokusai himself was a kind of milestone in the accumulation of certain experience and knowledge, and for the history of the Japanese landscape, it became the pinnacle of his artistic skill. The entire series consists of 46 sheets, but only two of them depict Fuji as "the main character." On the rest of the sheets, it is only present in the composition: the mountain is either visible from the roof of the house, or peeking out from behind the sea wave. Sometimes it is barely visible on the horizon, shrouded in fog, or peeps on the horizon against the background of the sea bay ... The artist shows the mountain from a wide variety of points of view, from different angles, from different distances. And in front of Fuji itself, like an endless pantomime, a wide panorama of the life of peasants, townspeople, travelers, artisans unfolds. Small, lovingly written people work, surrounded by the majestic and mysterious elements of water, earth and sky...
"Tsukuda Island in Musashi Province"
Originally a tiny island at the mouth of the Edogawa River in Tokyo Bay. It was settled by a fishing community that migrated from Osaka in the early 1600s. Hokusai showed in the engraving the lively life on the bay through various types of boats and ships: cargo, fishing, passenger.
"Noboto Bay"
Men and women gather shellfish on the shores of Noboto Bay under torii, the entrance gate to shrines which mark the transition from secular to religious spaces. Hokusai has cleverly used the torii to frame Fuji, suggesting, in turn, the mountain's sacred, iconic nature.
"Sea Route to Kazusu"
Kazusu Province is located on the island of Honshu. Hokusai gives us a picture of a sengoku-bune type sea vessel, formall called "Bezai-sen", was a large Japanese-type cargo ship that played the leading par in the marine transportation in the the Edo period (1615-1869). Having been constructed as coastwise ship when Japan was nationally isolated from the foreign countries, it was vulnerable in rough weather and experienced not a few disaster at sea. But yet the high growth of industrial economy in Edo Period dependet much on the activities of “Sengoku-bune”.
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Yemen 1970;6b;6b;6b.
Source: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/56216. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsukudajima.
https://istampgallery.com/historic-ship-issue-3/.