Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji

"Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji" is a series of horizontal large-format nishiki-e (multicolor woodblock prints) published by Eijudo Nishimuraya Yohachi. Because an advertisement appeared in 1831 (Tenpo 2), publication is thought to have begun in the first or second year of Tenpo and to have been completed around 1833 (Tenpo 4). Although the title says thirty-six, 10 more designs were added later, making 46 in all.

In the first 36 designs the outlines are printed in indigo, while in the later 10 they are printed in black ink. These later 10 are popularly called the "Ura Fuji" ("back" Fuji). Prussian blue (Berlin blue), a pigment that had only recently arrived from the West, was widely used for the indigo. Some designs, called "ai-zuri," are printed using only shades of blue, and the clear blue defines the impression of the whole series.

The places depicted range from the streets of Edo to the Tokaido, Kai, Shinano, Owari, and Hitachi. Fuji is placed differently in every design: a small Fuji in the trough of a great wave, Fuji seen within the ring of a barrel, Fuji on a snowy morning. The popularity of this series helped establish landscape as one genre of ukiyo-e.