Fuji with a Scaffold (Ashiro no Fuji): Detatched page from One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku hyakkei) Vol. 3 c. 1835 - 1847

Curator: Hokusai’s "Fuji with a Scaffold" offers a compelling commentary on labor and landscape. What strikes you most about this print? Editor: Well, it's a woodblock print, showing two workers on a construction site, with Mount Fuji in the background. The strong diagonal lines of the scaffolding really dominate. How do you interpret it? Curator: It's about situating the iconic, almost sacred, Mount Fuji within the everyday realities of Edo period life. It invites us to consider the unseen labor that supports society. What does it mean to frame a symbol through the process of building and creating? Editor: So, it's a commentary on the intersection of the mundane and the sublime? Curator: Exactly! It’s a layered view, showing us that even the most revered symbols are constructed, both literally and figuratively. Editor: That makes me see it in a completely new way. Thanks! Curator: My pleasure! It's about recognizing those narratives within the art piece.