Series : One Hundred Views of Fuji, Fugaku Hyakkei
Technique: nishikie, woodcuts in two shades of gray.
Format: hanshinbon koban diptych (about 183x253 mm)
Signatures : Zen Hokusai Iitsu aratame Gakyorojin Manji
Artist's seal : Fuji no Yama
Dates : engraved between 1834 – 1836, impressed between 1850 and 1870
Engravers: Egawa Tomekichi and Tsentaro
Publisher: Katano Toshiro.
Splendid proof with good contrasts, in the third edition from the original woodcuts. Printed on Japan paper, in excellent condition, with clean edges all around beyond the marginal line.
Bibliography:
Calza GC Hokusai, the old fool for painting , Milan 1999-2000, London, 2003.
Calza GC Hokusai, the hundred views of Fuji , Milan, 1982.
Dickins FV Fugaku hiyaku-kei: one hundred view of Fuji by Hokusai , London, 1880.
Forrer M. Hokusai, prints and drawings , London, 1991.
Hillier J. The art of Hokusai in book illustration , London, 1980.
Lane R. Hokusai, life and works , Milan, 1991.
Salamon Villa T., The hundred views of Fuji, Turin, 1975.
Smith II H. Hokusai: one hundred view of Fuji by Hokusai, London, 1988.
The snow-capped Fuji in the background, in the foreground woodcutters grappling with the branches of a large tree, their unusual poses make the spectators smile.
The panel bears and maintains the same title as another drawing in the series of Thirty-six views of Fuji where, moreover, the woodcutters are at work on an already squared block of wood. A preparatory drawing of this plate is also known and another drawing with a similar theme is in the Hokusai gashiki album (1819).