Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) | Nakahara in Sagami Province (Soshu Nakahara) | Edo period, 19th century

Gerhard Pulverer (b. 1930)

A strong horizontal line dominates this composition and takes the form of a busy road set beneath the towering Mount Fuji. Three figures line the road, each bearing individual attributes which reveal their identities: a farmer with a carrying pole (tenbinbo) supporting boxes of grain and waving a bird rattle; a pilgrim with a staff and portable shrine; and a peddler with a furled umbrella and a bright blue knapsack, emblazoned with the emblem of Nishimuraya, the print’s publisher. A woman, her baby strapped to her back and carrying a load on her head, crosses the bridge to join the road. Two pilgrims, a man, and a child follow closely behind, while beneath them in the river, a fisherman draws in his catch, his body intently bent over the net.

The setting is the junction at Nakahara, which welcomed devoted pilgrims journeying to Mount Oyama and weary climbers returning from Mount Fuji, for whom the statue of the deity Fudo, erected to the right-hand side of the bridge, may have acted as a visual guide along their route.

A similar impression of the same print is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The MET), accession number JP1325.