Fuji with a Hat (Kasa Fuji): Detached page from One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku hyakkei) Vol. 1 Possibly 1834 - 1835

Curator: What a deceptively simple image! The muted tones give this impression of quiet, everyday life. Editor: Indeed. This is a page from Hokusai's "One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji," titled "Fuji with a Hat." Notice how the rooftops angle upwards, echoing the distant mountain itself. It's as though the structures aspire to become part of the sacred landscape. Curator: I see how the angle repeats, almost as if they are bowing to the mountain's presence. But why the title “Fuji with a Hat”? Editor: Some art historians believe it is referencing the thatched roofs which visually 'cap' the base of the image, framing the composition and guiding the viewer's eye towards the iconic mountain in the distance. Curator: It's compelling how Hokusai connects the lives of ordinary people, their dwellings, to the enduring presence of Fuji. I will always consider the hat as a symbol of respect, a cultural gesture embedded in the landscape itself. Editor: And I'm left pondering how the mountain, often revered, is here made intimate, part of the tapestry of daily life.