Landscape and Legend

Katsushika Hokusai

Shichirigahama in Sagami Province

c. 1830–32

Woodblock print; ink and color on paper, 25.7 × 38.1 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Fuji rises beyond a wooded headland and a long beach.

• Prussian blue is a synthetic pigment; the Met says Dutch traders brought it to Japan.
• Blue ties sea, sky and land into one view.
• Blue printing (aizuri), in which blue dominates the color scheme, was then in fashion.

Image: The Met Open Access · Public domain (Met Open Access)