Page 318 - Edo: Art in Japan, 1615–1868

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172 middle distance he included a high of his work, as is the predominance of
Katsushika Hokusai (1760 -1849) scaffolding (one of Edo's numerous blue pigment. The placement of a
Asakusa Honganji, from Thirty-six fire-watch towers) and a kite flap- very large object in the foreground is
Views of Mount Fuji ping merrily in the breeze. Hokusai also a characteristic of the western-
excerpted the juxtaposed tower, kite, influenced Akita school. With his usual
c. 1830-1832 and Fuji over rooftops in the later wit Hokusai has hidden the antlike
Color woodblock print sixty-sixth illustration in his three- figures of the five roofers on the mas-
Approx. 26 x 38 (lo'A x 15) volume book One Hundred Views of sive form of Honganji so that, even
Tokyo National Museum
Fuji, but he omitted the large temple though the roof immediately draws
in the foreground, changing the focus the eye, the workmen are the last
• Katsushika Hokusai's seemingly of the composition entirely. The forms the viewer spots. MT
limitless creativity is seen in the finger-shaped clouds part to reveal a
novelty of this composition: the pyra- clutch of tile-roofed houses "below."
midal tip of Asakusa Honganji's gable Not only has the artist played with
in the foreground is echoed in the the vertical-horizontal space in his
truncated cone of Mount Fuji in the contrast of up and down but he has
background. Hokusai especially caused the same clouds to pass in
favored this repeating geometry; it front of and behind the tower, en-
is also visible in the complementary folding it with an impossible depth.
cigar shapes of the clouds. In the
Hokusai's ability to harmonize
western spatial devices with native
Yamatoe stylization (such as the
finger-shaped clouds) is a hallmark