Fujikawa (Station 37, Print 38)

Catalog note / 解説

Although today prints depicting the Tökaidö (East Sea Road) are most closely associated with Hiroshige, Hokusai published seven separate series on this subject, establishing a precedent for his younger competitor. Stylistically, this print continues the earlier paradigm of using landscape as a background for human activity, rather than as the primary subject, a distinction Richard Lane identified as “figures in a landscape” versus “landscape with figures.” The formalized treatment of the clouds, the flat picture plane with no sense of perspective, and the highly decorative winding river all suggest traditional Japanese painting, particularly of the Rimpa School, with which Hokusai closely i…