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Hokusai’s Summit : Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji

Lecture: Mount Fuji in the Art of Japan

Presented by John Szostak, Associate Professor of Japanese Art History at the University of Hawaii

While Hokusai’s Summit exhibition has been open to the public since September 23rd at the Honolulu Academy of Arts (until January 3, 2010), on November 12, 2009, Dr. Szostak (Art History Specialist / Associate Professor of the Center for Japanese Studies, University of Hawaii) presented a lecture on Mt. Fuji as a model in Japanese art history and culture, and focused on the thirty-six views of Mt. Fuji by Hokusai Katsushika.  Dr. Szostak’s knowledge about Japan and Hokusai Katsuhika is quite extensive and his lecture included episodes of his experiences in Japan as well as how Mt. Fuji is closely tied to the Japanese culture, paintings, and history by utilizing visual tools. 

At the Q&A session following the lecture, audiences asked various questions from the basics (such as about Japanese history and culture) to the technical issues (such as how the image of Mt. Fuji as a symbol has been changing and relating to Japanese lives in Japan ).  While Mt. Fuji tends to be introduced as a sightseeing spot and/or a beautiful scene, the lecture left a strong impression as it delved in deeper and discussed the influence that Mt. Fuji has had upon the Japanese culture and history.  (Written by Vice Consul Yusuke Ozawa)

Lecture