Mishima Pass in Kai Province - Katsushika Hokusai

A classic Ukiyo-e woodblock print by Katsushika Hokusai, featuring travellers dwarfed by a massive tree with Mount Fuji in the background.

Mishima Pass in Kai Province is a woodblock print from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji by Katsushika Hokusai. This series, produced during the Edo period, captures the mountain from various locations and conditions. In this composition, Hokusai employs a striking juxtaposition between the immense scale of nature and the human figure. A massive, ancient tree dominates the centre of the frame, its trunk occupying the vertical axis. The texture of the bark is rendered with deliberate, vertical strokes, contrasting with the soft, rounded forms of the clouds that drift around the base and peak of Mount Fuji. The mountain itself is depicted with a deep blue gradient, a hallmark of the Prussian blue pigment that became available to Japanese artists during this era. At the base of the tree, several travellers are shown. Three figures attempt to encircle the trunk with their arms, a detail that communicates the sheer size of the tree relative to the human scale. Other figures are positioned nearby, carrying bundles or resting, providing a sense of daily life along the mountain pass. The composition is balanced by the sweeping curve of the hillside, which leads the eye toward the mountain peak. Hokusai uses a limited palette of blues, greens, and warm paper tones to create a sense of atmospheric depth. The print demonstrates the artist's ability to organise complex spatial relationships within the constraints of the woodblock medium, focusing on the interplay between the organic forms of the forest and the geometric presence of the volcano.