Groups of Mountain Climbers (Shojin tozan)

Catalog note / 解説

The print is the only composition in the Fuji series that does not show the mountain’s general configuration. It depicts mountain climbers ascending to Fuji’s summit, which is no longer visible. Climbers in white robes struggle among wild and rugged volcanic rock. Using their staffs, they painstakingly inch to higher positions. In a cave at top right, climbers who have managed to arrive huddle together, shivering in the cold air of a very early mountain morning. The red in the sky foretells that sunrise is due soon. The feeling of the rugged rocks and crevices is expressed by their strange contours and the accentuated texture strokes and dots. The billows of mist rising between the ridges o…