Lone Fisherman at Kajikazawa

The series "Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji" began to be published circa 1831 and gained enormous popularity throughout Japan because of Katsuhira Hokusai's spectacular designs. Its publisher Nishimura Eijudo also played an important role since he had the ability to determine the tastes and demand of his day. The prints were issued at a time when Edo townsmen had money to spend and could afford to pursue cultural activities and indulge in evening amusements and personal whims.

The economic progress also intensified the exchange between Edo and provincial areas and the traffic of men and goods became brisk. Business travel eventually stimulated the formation of excursion parties for pleasure travel. Fujiko societies of Mt. Fuji worshippers, for example, appeared all over the country. Publishers who noticed this new and growing trend catered to it by issuing Mt. Fuji prints. They were eagerly bought by worshippers as souvenirs and also by people who were unable to travel to the mountain. Hokusai made a tremendous impact upon the Ukiyo-e world since he pioneered pure landscape prints. His designs helped launched the fashion for landscape prints to its greatest heights.

Kajikazawa in Koshu district is located south of Kofu near joined and became the Fuji river. Kajikazawa was an important river-port that acted as a link between the Suruga and Kai Provinces. The upper stretch of the Fuji river was a rapid stream which is said to have been troublesome for boat traffic.

Hokusai's print of Kajikazawa shows a striking composition of a fisherman and his son silhouette against Mt. Fuji which is veiled in the morning mist. The blue colour used throughout the prints defines this work as a so-called aizuri-e.

All printing are done by hand, using the traditional woodblock process. The printing stage is both time-consuming and extremely delicate, because each colour in the print must be printed from its own block. The printer must align the print perfectly through several stages of the printing process. All prints are produced on handmade Japanese Kozo (paper mulberry) paper. Inks are made from natural dyes. All of the material used are traditional Ukiyo-e.

Through careful research, the use of traditional techniques and materials, and the highest standards of craftmanship, the artist are able to reproduce original Ukiyo-e with the highest level of accuracy.

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