Hokusai's Mount Fuji: The Complete Views in Color [Hardcover]

This book represents a somewhat unusual presentation of the set of hokusai prints of Mount Fuji. Unusual to this reader, for two reasons. First, in most books that reproduce these and other japanese prints each print is presented in the same size/page format, with a white border. In this case, the prints are in some cases presented with white border, some are bled to the paper edge top bottom and sides, and others are presented as a band across the page with white above and below and the side margin bled to the edge. This format does help to focus on the content of the images which has some benefits. On the other hand, it is not necessarily clear that the entirety of every print is completely reproduced. The second unusual element is that the originals from which these prints are taken, appear to have more flaws or be less clear prints than would be expected. Many have indications of damage such as a crease or faint line vertically through the middle which I have not seen in other books of reproductions of such prints. The prints also are in many cases quite blurred - such as print number 18, which is shown in an enlarged detail on pages 54/55. Other prints are of excellent quality,and well reproduced - such as print 32. Overal, this set of prints compares quite poorly with other books of Japanese prints such as Sebastian Izzards "Sixy-nine stations of the Kisokaido" (Hiroshige/Eisen)

Hokusai's prints can be enjoyed in many ways. Simply as samples of the woodcut artist's craft, these are spectacular samples. More than once, the editor presents enlargements of some part of a print. They show the lovingly detailed flow of a horse's tail (p.95), or complex texture of reeds in a rice field (p.54-55). These minutiae take on extra meaning when you remember that each is incised into a plank, with the space carved out from between the visible lines. This book's beautiful printing helps the viewer appreciate not just the technical feat of aligning so many colored blocks in making one print, or in creating the delicate gradients of sky and water. It also helps the reader to appreciate Hokusai's layered composition and to walk along the path that leads into the depths of each image.

This also makes several statements about Japanese culture, from the humble pit-saw workers (p.57) and rice millers to elegant geishas or daimyo and his retinue. Behind all the bustle of life or terror of the seas (as in the famous "Great Wave"), there stands Mt. Fuji. Silent and eternal, it's almost hidden in many of the pictures. I've never seen Fuji in person, but it reminds me of Mt. Rainier as seen from the Seattle area - it seems to pop from nowhere as I turn a corner, looming and massive despite its distance. And, like the many views of Fuji shown here, Ranier looks different with every angle and every shift of light or weather. Hokusai conveys all that variability, permanence, and immanence, but also conveys a reverence for Fuji that a Western mind can't wholly encompass.

Brief descriptions help identify each scene and comment on its composition without dominating the imagery. I recommend this highly, as a segment of Hojusai's ouvre, as a world class sample of print-making, or just as a book of pictures.

-- wiredweird

I looked at a lot of reviews before buying this book. I wanted one that had all the views together, in color, and that's what I got. The text that accompanies each picture gives helpful information about that picture, without distracting from it. Great book. Exactly what I was hoping for.