Ukiyoe The
second story
|
"The Waves off the Coast of Kanagawa"
from the series THE 36 VIEWS OF MT.FUJI .
By Katsushika Hokusai.
Edo Period, dated 1831
Tokyo National Museum |
|
In the previous number, we introduced
ukiyoe briefly and carried Kabuki actor painting by
Sharaku. The ukiyoe painting introduced here this time
is "The Waves off the Coast of Kanagawa", one of "THE
36 VIEWS OF MT.FUJI" that can also be said to be the
representative work of landscape.
Mt. Fuji which is the highest peak of Japan was drawn
in various places and from different angles. Since these
pictures caught on with people, ten pieces were added
to "THE 36 VIEWS OF MT.FUJI", it became the series of
a total of 46 pieces. Some pieces have Mt. Fuji as the
main, some have it in the corner. It could be fun to
think about where he painted and to visit there actually
and view the landscape.
"THE 36 VIEWS OF MT.FUJI" is the work in Katsushika
Hokusai's later years, and about ten years were spent
on this series completion. The first edition of this
work came out when he was 72 years old. Incidentally,
the average life expectancy of the Japanese of those
days was about 50 years old. After that, the picture
book "THE 100 VIEWS OF MT.FUJI" was also released.
It might be said that people's strong worship of Mt.
Fuji in Edo period was one of the factors to bring his
"THE 36 VIEWS OF MT.FUJI" to the present world.
It is also known that Hokusai's "THE 36 VIEWS OF MT.FUJI"
became the model of "Mont Sainte-Victoire" series of
Cezanne.
His works are appreciated also overseas and the "International
Hokusai meeting" which his researchers of each country
concentrate was held twice in 1990 and 1994 in Venice,
Italy and the 3rd meeting was held in 1998 in Japan.
The photograph magazine "LIFE" representing the United
States featured with selection of 100 persons in world
history in 1997. In the article, Hokusai was the only
person selected from Japan.
Hokusai has an interesting episode. He had a record
of changing his address no less than 93 times until
he passed away at the age of 90, but it is said that
the new addresses were always near to his hometown where
he was born, and moved from one r?place to another that
was not separated dozens of kilometers.
I think it was not a mere peculiarity of changing address,
but it was a sign of his soul to have an yearning for
his hometown though he did not always stick to a house
and the place.
Moreover, there are a large series of Sumi-e (black-and-white
painting) exceeding 600 pieces which was drawn a lion
as a daily lesson in his works after Hokusai became
83 years old.
Why did he continue to draw the picture of a lion every
day? It may be that there was a thing like an incantation
against sufferings and misfortunes which he was faced
in these series of pictures those days.
It seems to be difficult to understand suffering of
the artist who continued drawing pictures until he finished
the whole life at the age of 90.
Ref. "Read the Ukiyoe in the Edo period" by Tadashi
Kobayashi, "Solve the mystery of Hokusai" by Haruo Suwa.
|
Vol.33
