Gekko Ogata – Viewing Mount Fuji from the Pagoda

Original woodblock print. The first edition of this design was published circa 1900.

The print is part of Ogata Gekko’s series 100 Views of Mount Fuji, an incredibly varied series with Mount Fuji always visible, even if only remotely such as in the current print. Still, Mount Fuji is visible and one person of the compagnie gathered on the Pagoda seems to watch it in the distance.

Though the series consists of many great designs, the printing techniques used are simpler then many other prints of Ogata Gekko. For example, the current print does not use blindprinting or metallic pigments.

Image size (excluding margins): 22.2 * 29.6 cm (8.7 * 11.7 in).

The print has good colors, but imperfections, mainly some spots visible in the sky area to the left of the pagoda. It retains old backing and has a number noted on the back in pencil. The margins of the print have been trimmed.

The pictures shown here are from the print itself.

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Gekko Ogata (1859 – 1920) was a self-taught Japanese painter and woodblock artist. He was a prolific artist with a strong work ethic and produced many paintings, woodblock prints, and illustrations for various media. In later years, attention to his works was less than for artists such as Tsukioka Yoshitoshi or Yoshu Chikanobu, but in recent years there has been renewed interest. For an in-depth overview of his life and work, there is an excellent resource in Amy Reigle Newland’s “Printed and Painted. The Meiji Art of Ogata Gekko (1859-1920)”.

His works feature traditional ukiyo-e themes, such as flowers and beautiful women. These prints are typically relatively affordable. Another, more expensive genre, is that of Japanese legends, heroes, and history. For both these genres, we have many woodblock prints on offer, and we hope to add more in the future of his landscape prints and those of other genres.

See an overview of Gekko Ogata's woodblock prints