Mount Fuji From Lake Ashi in Hakone

It was believed that to dream of Mount Fuji, a hawk or aubergines on the first or second night of the New Year would bring luck in the coming months. For this reason, Mount Fuji often appears on New Year's surimono. Hokusai designed very few surimono after 1825 but, in the early 1830's, he began to produce his series of 'Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji' for a commercial publisher, and it was probably around then that he designed this print.