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

Curator: This detached page, titled "Fuji with a Hat," comes from Hokusai's series "One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji." Editor: It's striking how present Fuji is, even though it's rendered almost as an afterthought in the distance. Like a serene, watchful presence. Curator: That's a wonderful observation! The "hat" refers to the cloud formation hovering over the peak, a symbol itself, perhaps of transient beauty veiling the eternal. Editor: Yet, the foreground teems with daily life. People crossing the river, burdens weighing them down. The sacred mountain overlooks the mundane. Does that placement suggest something about the socio-political hierarchy in Hokusai's time? Curator: Perhaps, or perhaps it speaks to the enduring power of nature, indifferent to human concerns. Both the mountain and the cloud hold symbolic weight. Editor: It makes me think about how the perception of national identity is shaped through these images, creating a sense of shared culture and history, even through daily toil. Curator: Indeed. This interplay between the divine and the everyday is what makes Hokusai's work so compelling, inviting layers of interpretation across time. Editor: A perfect synthesis of the grand and the ordinary, then. Fascinating.