Katsushika Hokusai’s Ukiyo-e I will explain Shichirihama Beach in Sagami Province in Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji.
This ukiyo-e Shichirigahama is a beach located in Inamuragasaki, Kamakura City, Kanagawa Prefecture, which is still visited by many tourists today.
It depicts Cape Koyurugi and Enoshima, overlooking Mt. Fuji from near the hill called Mt. Kamakura.
The scenery in the figure, excluding Mt. Fuji, is a composition looking southwest from the vicinity of Mt. Kamakura, so it is difficult to see such a scenery in reality.
Kamakura is in the foreground, and the village of Shichirigahama is in the middle. The island on the left is thought to be Enoshima floating in Sagami Bay.
The shape of Enoshima is also unclear, and Cape Kodo and Mt.Fuji are largely captured.
It is believed that this ukiyo-e was drawn in the late afternoon when the western sky is dyed, and the colors of the villages and islands that are darkened by the backlight are beautifully expressed.
In the printing of this work, it is difficult to distinguish due to fading, but in the sky to the left of Mt.
The technique of ukiyo-e is aizuri, which is drawn only with shades of indigo.
The vivid indigo color is based on Prussian blue, which was imported from Europe at the time and became very popular with the people of Edo.
There are no people depicted in the picture, let alone the traffic, and it is a lonely landscape with only a few houses visible for a tourist destination.
In addition, the overall indigo color further expresses such an atmosphere. Rather than depicting famous places, it is more like a landscape map.
This ukiyo-e is from around 1830 to 1832. Hokusai is around 72 years old.
