Hokusai and the Rebirth of Sun Over Mt. Fuji - From Kajikazawa
Hokusai and the Rebirth of Sun Over Mt. Fuji – “Sunrise over Kajikazawa”
Richard A. Pinkowitz
Hokusai presented a new visual language with “Thirty Six Views of Mt. Fuji,” expressing multiple novel ideas in ukiyo-e single sheet prints. This was not a spontaneous creative act by the artist, but an evolution over a decade of preparatory work illustrating books and creating manuals. 1 With this series, Hokusai redefined landscape imagery in ukiyo-e printing, he synthesized European single point perspective with Chinese landscape perspective to create multi-point perspective, his exclusive use of blue pigment in five prints of the series integrated the skills of artist, block cutter and printer to create energetic images. It is well quoted that Hokusai had a singular focus on improving his craft and believed that the older he became the better his art. His artistic capacity was not limited and for more than ten years he produced manuals and illustrated books. Through this lens of Hokusai as a book illustrator we might view this series not as individual scenes, but as a story with an integral plot line.
The intensity of “The Great Wave” evidenced Hokusai’s visual creativity. It is one scene in, “Thirty Six Views” which everyone remembers, like a quote from a Shakespeare play. Beyond that singular visual image, Hokusai built “Thirty Six Views” upon multiple novel themes which propelled the entire series. Howard Smith II highlighted his belief that a yearning for immortality drove Hokusai at the age of seventy to the “specific depiction of Mt. Fuji a mountain that …had powerful associations with rebirth and longevity.” 2 Roger Keyes states, about “The Thirty Six Views,’ “Hokusai’s first twenty prints, in other words, chronical the miraculous daily return of color to the world with the rebirth of the sun and the coming of light.” 3 It is this vision of “rebirth of light” which I wish to explore further and show how Hokusai’s ability to capture subtle details achieved this goal.
The dawning of the series was an advertisement in a book “Shohon-jitate” published on New Years of 1831 by the publisher Nishimuraya Yohachi announcing a set of prints by “old man Itsu, the former Hokusai of “Thirty Six views of Mt. Fuji” printed in aizuri4 In fact five images all in blue were published in 1831 and five more with an additional color, red or green, so called semi-aizuri, were also published. There are debates about whether the first prints of the series were the five aizuri or the five semi-aizuri, but Smith based on the advertisement specifically mentioning the blue, plus added evidence, was of the thought that the five aizuri were the first prints of the series published4
The evolution of the use of the synthetic blue pigment, Berlin Blue, berio in Japanese or called aizuri (blue) is a story well described by Smith. The pigment was used by ukiyo-e painters for decades, its use as a pigment in single sheet prints had emerged a year or two earlier than the Thirty Six Views in 1831. The five aizuri images, all in shades of blue: Lake Sowa, Schichirigawa, Tsukuda Island, Uchibori and Kajikazawa.
To achieve the mood through subtleties of shading of a single color demanded the concerted high skill of the artist, block cutter and printer. The failure of one would diminish the effort of the others. It might be argued that similar effect had been achieved in the past with sumi, black, but in this sequence Hokusai and his team advanced ukiyo-e art.
Consider the time before dawn, still night time. It is a dark world without moonlight. The eye slowly becomes accustomed to the darkness. Without light color is absent.. Only shapes and shadings of dark and less dark are discerned. Aizuri represents this time of minimal to no light. See figure 2 as an example.
As the earth rotates about its axis, darkness slowly begins to give way to light. It is a slow and deliberate process (Figure 1). Even before the sun rises above the horizon, (astronomical dawn when the mid-point of the sun is 18 degrees below the horizon) the sun’s rays travelling in the upper atmosphere are scattered by water droplets and light is scattered back to earth. We may see light in the upper sky while lower down, clouds remain dark. As the earth rotates further and while the mid-point of the sun still remains below the horizon, the sun’s light is bent by our atmosphere and the distinction between earth and sky, the horizon becomes visible( nautical dawn, the midpoint of the sun is 12 degrees below the horizon). As time and rotation of the earth progress more light is visible (civil dawn, 6 degrees). Finally the sun is at the horizon and we have daylight. This progression of dawn to sunrise and daylight is the evolution the day and growth of light and color.
Figure 1 – Schematic of the sequence of sunrise and sun set on the earth.
Celestial Sunrise and Sunset
Picturing the time before dawn, our eyes discern shapes but not color. How has Hokusai created this time in his five aizuri images
Our fisherman, on the outskirts of the town of Kajikazawa in Kai Province (Figure 2) , is on the banks of the Fuji River. Beginning work before sunrise, to get fresh fish to the market for the day, our fisherman and a boy are poised on a rock promontory above the raging river. They are geographically (Lat: 35.5oN; Lo: 138.4oE) slightly north of due west of Mt. Fuji (Lat:35.4oN; 138.7oE), as Hokusai, with his attention to detail has accurately depicted in the print. Fuji, at over 12,444 feet high, is an imposing feature even fifteen miles away in Kajikazawa, but Hokusai has also balanced Fuji with equal focus on our fisherman on the promontory in the foreground. .
From Kajikazawa facing east, towards Fuji, light from the rising sun is behind Mt. Fuji. The western facing side of Mt. Fuji remains in shadows. In both Figure 2 and 3 the West and South side of the mountain are in wonderful decreasing shadow. Even the jagged tip of Mt. Fuji on the west side has been emphasized in black to show that the sun is not yet high enough to illuminate the top of Mt. Fuji. The sky above Fuji remains dark. The mist, horizontal at the Midpoint of Mt. Fuji remains dark. The sun has not yet risen far enough to begin to light the sky.
Our fisherman is about 15 miles west of Mt. Fuji and about 11,000 feet lower. It will takes a minute or so more before the sun rises enough to light our fisherman and their rock promontory which at this moment are the same dark blue as Fuji. At the foot of the promontory the printer adds a bit of lighter shading, bokashi, to remind us of the darkness of the scene, but with enough restraint implying we are still in the time of seeing differences of shading not color. We can sense the isolation of the fisherman standing on the promontory, as he mirrors the isolation of Mt. Fuji in the dawn.
The river below is raging and whitecaps, more oceanic than riverine, are rising upwards. At this point of the Fuji River, in Kajikazawa, we are below the confluence of the Fuji and the Haya Rivers. These rivers are carrying water downwards from the mountains, which in this region of Japan are called the Japanese Alps. The Fuji River is one of the steepest in the world and the run off from the mountains gains tremendous speed. One might also assume from the volume of the water in this raging river, we are in spring, when snow melt from the mountains is the greatest. The raging river water hits the rocks on the shore and foams, creating the whitecaps. Our fisherman is tightly holding on to his lines which are being carried downstream with the current.
At the time of the Summer Solstice, the earth tilt has brought sunrise northwards. At this point, the sun rises at slightly more than 23 degrees north of the equator. Fuji is at about 35 degrees north of the equator, so at the solstice, sunrise is only a few degrees south of Fuji. Hokusai has been quite fastidious in having our shading of the back of Fuji represent a sunrise more northerly so that the South west slope of Fuji is shaded.
Figure 2 – Met JP 2581.
Figure 3 – MFA 21.6775
Figure 4: Ushibori; Metropolitan Museum – JP2565
Figure 4, Ushibori, is about 90 miles north east of Mt. Fuji. It is early and the sun has not yet risen over our boat. We can see from the sky high above Mt. Fuji that the sky is lit and the sun coming to our horizon. The boatmen are already up preparing for the day. The earth has shades of darkness, the boatman is pouring off the water from his rice as they prepare in the early morning for their day.
What rich color the blue offers, wonderfully created by the printer, of subtle shades of darkness in the foreground, rocks, plants and even the darker side of the boat hull, all distinct objects. The lower slope of Mt. Fuji contrasting with the white of the snowier peak and the contras with the darker sky. All on a sea of lighter blue. Ropes and other boat items, boatmen’s coats, bags stored below. In variations of blue shading. All emphasizing the darkness and lack of color.
In Figure 5, Shichirigawa, about 40 miles nearly due east of Mt. Fuji. It is also before dawn and again everything is shades of darkness. The sun has not risen, but Hokusai and the printer have alerted us with the lightened sky above Mt. Fuji, that the sun is rising soon. The calmness of this pre-dawn contrasts with the activity of the boatmen in Ushibori, or the fisherman in Kajikazawa. The artist, the printer and the block cutter have combined their skills with subtle shades of blue to create contrast, character and energy in this static landscape.
Figure 5: Shichirigawa – MFA 21.6760
Figure 6 – Night Scene from Ichiro Gafu Notebooks. MFA - 2019.975
These images from Gakutei’s Ichiro Gafu Figure 6, achieve quite wonderful effects with traditional black, sumi.7 These images were originally designed as illustrations of kyaku, poetry, but here we have a reprint which gives full credit to the image. This version, probably quite late, achieves multiple planes of perspective with gentle shading of sumi which achieves a degree of depth and shadow. The added color, in this version, extends the depth beyond the person on the bridge. Still, the effect, while wonderful, is different than aizuri.
The aizuri prints of the “Thirty Six Views…”were unique for the series and following groups of prints in the series incorporated more colors. However, these aizuri prints were also published later with additional various color schemes. Were they “printer versions” which were printed for the sole purpose of filling the demand for this series, or did they have greater artistic purpose? Is there an internal story within the sequence of aizuri-e images?
The publication of works with additional color schemes was not unusual for ukiyo-e, woodblock books. The Gakutei book, figure 6, was republished multiple times with poems, without the poems in sumi and the version in figure six which included additional colors. Hokusai’s also printed multiple versions of his Soga in sumi and with added red. We can see in figures 7 and 8 how the addition of the red, plus shading adds warmth, dimension and character to the image and does transform into a different scene.
Figure 7 – From Hokusai Soga, Rough Sketches – BM 1979,0305,0.449
Figure 8 – From Hokusai Soga, Rough Sketches – BM 1979,0305,0,449
The sun is has now achieved the horizon, civil dawn, and red becomes the dominant color. As the sun rises on the horizon light travels through the atmosphere and due to particles in the air, light rays are scattered with blue scattered most and red, yellow and orange colors dominate. In Europe they have the term “Alpenglow” when the rocks take on the reddish hue from the light at sunrise or sunset.
If we consider Figure 9 (Met JP1327) and Figure 10 (MFA 11.17636) our scene at Kajikazawa has changed. The scene has lightened considerably and colors now supplement the blue. Red and green are added to heighten the scene. Less dark and more white drastically change the mood of the print.
In Figure 9 the sky is lighter and we see the dominant red color of civil dawn sky. However, the mist remains blue. In figure 10, the sky is lighter, albeit darkness remains, however, the mist is now the dominant red color of the dawn. Both images have diminished shadows on the south slope of Mt. Fuji, but retain a shadow on the side facing the western observer, indicating that the sun is still not above Mt. Fuji. In both Figures, the mid-ground, blue in the first images, has become white in these two images. The promontory of the fisherman remains darker, indicating that the sun still has not risen far above Fuji and not yet completely reached Kajikazawa.
Figure 9 (MET JP 1327)
The coats of the fisherman and the boy reflect the dominant red light of dawn. The blue in the foreground, east of the fisherman, is lighter than the foreground water, as the sun is rising illuminating the land east of the fisherman. In “Clear Weather Southern Breeze” also called “Red Fuji” from this series, the artist bathes Fuji in red, indicating early morning light.8
Figure 10 (MFA 11.17636)
As the sun rises above the horizon and moves westward, from Fuji to Kajikazawa, full sunlight light begins to display a greater range of colors. The shadow on Fuji’s south slope is diminished significantly. The peak of Mt. Fuji is well lit. The mid-ground is now lightened. The coat of the fisherman and the boy become darker. Most significantly we now see color in the foreground. The promontory is now green and the immediate foreground we begin to see yellow as in Figure 11 (MFA 11.6773).
Figure 11 (MFA 21.6773)
Or possibly, Figure 12 from Tokyo, with a lighter color palette but with the light now illuminating the scene. (ETM 92202757)
Figure 12 – (ETM 92202757)
Or Figure 13 from the British Museum,(BM; 1907,0322,0.3)
Figure 13 (BM , 1907,0322,0.3)
Now that sun has now risen above the horizon sufficiently that everything is illuminated the sky above Mt. Fuji is light. The shadow on the south slope of the mountain has diminished, but is still defined, since the sun has now traversed from directly above the mountain and is now north west creating a shadow on the southern side of the mountain. The water beneath our fisherman is lighter. Allowing for a darker overall pallette, our fisherman is now on a dark green promontory with a lighter foreground. We have soothed the angry waves with blue overlaying the white caps. The day appears less ominous than before the dawn. (LOC 2075).
Figure 14 (LOC 2075)
Is this an imagined scenario? Was there intent to create an internal series, “Sunrise over Kajikazawa?” It would be an amazing happenstance if these occurred randomly. Who drove this process? Would the artist, involved in creating the next, prints of this series? Was he necessary? Was the publisher, or the printer capable of taking this established print to another level with simple color changes to the existing blocks?
Is there any further information which might assist to set a sequence in the images. We know, from the oft cited advertisement in the book by the publisher Nishimuraya, “Stories in Promptbook form” that the aizuri-e prints were the original intent of the series.
Roger Keyes, in his study of Red Fuji,8 utilized the progressive changes in the woodblock as keys to assist the determination of the sequence of prints which he also applied to the Kajikazawa prints. In an unpublished study, Keyes identifies nine states, the first five are in blue. He is less interested in the introduction of color into the series than the sequencing of the earliest prints, however, by State 6 he identifies the introduction of red in the coats and red sky. Even though he has some examples in earlier states of prints which have green replacing blue, for example in the promontory, as in figure 15, the blue is replaced by a darker color and represents the original mood of morning.
In my summary of Keyes States:
Keyes States 1 – The print was in blue. Publisher seal and censor seals were in red in the lower right hand corner. Break in outer outline of the cartouche near first character of Kajikazawa, slight break in the outer outline of cartouche left of character gaku. Keyes places the Met JP2581, figure 2 in this state.
Keyes State 2 – This state is also in blue. The break of outer border left of “gaku” increases. Keyes places MFA 21.6775, figure 3 in State 3.
Keyes State 3.1 – This state is also in blue. There are two breaks on the left of “gaku.”
Keyes State 3.2 – This state is also printed in blue. The major change is that the shading on Mt. Fuji is not present.
Keyes State 4 – In this state the cartouche has been repaired. No shading on the cone of Mt. Fuji. However, two of Keyes examples have shades of green.
Keyes State 5: Seals are removed and the dark block at the top of Mt. Fuji is removed.
State 6 (RSK State 5) – Seals and dark blue block on top of MT. Fuji removed. Basket and coats of fisherman and boy are now red/orange. Figure 10, MFA 11.17636 and Figure 12, ETM 922.02.757 are both of Keyes State 6. Keyes uses the ETM as an example of State 6.
State 6.1 Lower end of signature character Hoku broken. Band of clouds at Mt. Fuji peak in blue.
State 6.2 – Lower end of right half of character Hoku broken. Clouds at the right of Fuji in lighter color. Figure 9, Met JP 1327,Figure 11, MFA 21.6773 and Figure 14, LOC 2075 are State 6.2. Keyes uses Met JP1327 and MFA 21.6773 as examples of State 6.2.
State 7 – Forked cloud at the right hand side of Mt. Fuji removed. Right tip of right signature character sai, broken. Figure 13, BM 1907,322,0,3 is an example of state 7. Keyes uses this image from the BM as an example of State 7.
Keyes State 8 has blues, reds, green and yellow which continue into State 9. Finally, the last state of the series has outlines in sumi, black , replacing the berlin blue.
Figure 15 – HAM; 1896.394
The publisher maintained the original theme of pre-dawn darkness through the use of blue, and if a color was changed it was also darker to maintain the pre-dawn mood.
By Keyes State 6 he notes the introduction of red/orange in the boy’s basket, the coats and the light colored clouds which are represented in Figure 4. In the Met JP1327, figure 9 there is an introduction of red into the image, which I indicate would be the civil dawn and the first addition of a color, in this case red after the original aizuri prints. However, only a censor seal is seen. The publisher seal is missing. Keyes has placed this in State 6.2. This print also has the forked clouds to the right of Mt. Fuji, while also State 6.2, Figure 12, ETM 92202572, By Keyes State 7 the prints have introduce3d yellow in the foreground as in Figure 13, which Keyes also places in State 7. By the final state 8, there are many colors in the prints, as we see in Figure 14.
We now view an additional print, from a recent catalog of Izzard Arts, where we have a dominantly blue image with green addition, primarily in the rock promontory, which unfortunately is not as visible as in the catalog. This image does have both the publisher and censor seal at the lower right hand corner. It does appear that this image is post repair of the cartouche, with publisher and censor seals, it is probably in Keyes State 4. It is a superb image, although it lacks the more subtle touches of shading on Mt. Fuji, and some blue in the middle ground. It does retain the darkness at the peak of Fuji, as seen in the aizuri-e images.
Figure 16 Izzard Arts, Catalog, March 2020
In the ukiyo-e.org data base there is another print with blue and added green, also on the rocky promontory, with publisher and censor seal. This print, as with the Izzard print, Figure 16, lacks the shadow on the south west side of Mt. Fuji and lack of color in the middle ground. It also has the dark black at the top of Mt. Fuji, indicating that it is before sunrise over Fuji.
Figure 17 (MFA 42.5655)
The last images printed in the series replaced the blue, used in the outlines, with black.
Figure 18 (ETM 0192202757)
This is clear in this very late image which includes red, orange, greens, and dark blue. This version has an oddly placed seal under the cartouche. Is this an owner’s seal, since it appears in only two versions of the print, only those owned by Edo-Tokyo Museum?
From the information, so far gathered, we may jump to the following conclusions, which are presented for the purpose of discussion.
The publisher, Nishimuraya seal represents authorized printing of the image. The initial aizuri images contain this seal. So as not to greatly disturb the artistic intent of the image, and also now to expand the palette the publisher and the artist agreed to an authorized printing with added green color on the promontory rock. I will take the presence of the publisher’s seal on these images as a signal that they were truly authorized.
Now we are left with the remaining quite interesting series, representing the evolution of daylight. Since the publisher seems not willing to authorize the printing with the seal, although, I am certain he accepted the revenues for the sale of the prints, I shall assume that it was the creativity of the printer who organized and printed the colorful series.
Not to proclaim that the printer was at the forefront of creativity since the color schemes were established by the evolution of the Thirty Six Views series. However, we must see the printer as an able contributor to ukiyo-e prints with an artistic sense which at their best were able to heighten the artistic experience.
References:
References; Hokusai’s “Sunrise over Kajikazawa”
Richard Lane, “Hokusai, Life and Work,” Barrie and Jenkins, Ltd., Great Britain, 1989. Chapter XXIII, “Old Man Mad with Painting,” is quite a wonderful discussion of the conclusion of Hokusai’s life, his commitment to his art with the publication o “on the Use of Coloring.”
Henry D. Smith II, ”Hokusai and the Blue Revolution in Edo Prints, 235-269, In “Hokusai and His Age,” Ed. John T. Carpenter, Hotei Publishing, Imprint of KIT Publishers, 2005
Roger Keyes, “Thirty Six Views of Mt. Fuji (Fugaku Sanjurokkei),” 108-109, in “Hokusai, Beond the Great Wave” edited by Timothy Clark, Thames and Hudson, Ltd. In collaboration with the British Museum,2017
Jack Hillier, “The Art of HOKUSAI in Book Illustration,” Sotheby’s Parke Bernet Publications, by Philip Wilson Publishers, Ltd., Covent Garden, Great Britain, 1980.
J. Hillier, Hokusai, Printings, Drawings and Woodcuts,” Phaidon Press, London, Great Britain, 1955.
Matthi Forrer, “Western Influences in Hokusai Art,” 23-31, in “Hokusai,” Ed. Gian Carlo Calza, Phaidon Press, Ltd., London, Great Britain, 2003.
Jack Hillier, “The Art of the Japanese Book,” 870-883, Sotheby’s Publications, Philip Wilson Publishers, London, Great Britain, 1987.
Roger S. Keyes, “Pink Fuji: The Print Hokusai Saw,” Impressions, 29, 68-75, 2007-2008.