Tsukuda Island in Musashi Province (Buyô Tsukuda-jima)

Catalog note / 解説

During Hokusai’s time, the island of Tsukuda was a fishing village lying near the mouth of the Sumida River. Hokusai views the island from a high position. Like any other fishing village, Tsukuda’s harbors are filled with rows of masts. Many different types of boats – fishing boats, cargo boats, and ferries – are being rowed to and from the island. Hokusai seems to take delight in the boats’ construction. He depicts their rising stem posts, gunwales, decks, thwarts, and rudder mechanisms in careful detail. The foremost boat, with its covered foredeck and a crewman hauling on a line, is masterfully foreshortened. Over the slightly curved horizon, snow-capped Mount Fuji rises near the center,…