Lumberyards on the Takekawa in Honjo

Catalog note / 解説

Hokusai is the master of abbreviation. He could create the most striking designs, with only a single triangle for depicting Mount Fuji. On the other hand, he liked extremely crowded compositions. This print exemplifies such a composition, with its depiction of every stick of wood in lumberyards on the bank of a river. Fuji appears at the far right, behind the screens of the stacked poles. Honjo was adjacent to Asakusa, where the Takekawa, a small river, flows east and west, joining the Sumida River just near Ryôgoku Bridge. Honjo was famous for its many lumberyards on the riverbanks. On this side of the river, three men are busily stacking wood. A man on the left throws a bundle of wood to…