Mount Fuji

Literati painting spread eastward from Kyoto to Edo, where it was shaped by the tastes of the shogunal capital and through the syncretic work of Tani Bunchō. Bunchō studied a wide range of classical Japanese, continental Asian, and Western works; he also adopted nature sketching techniques, selective realism, and an emphasis on ornamentalism from Maruyama-Shijō painting. This monumental painting of the sacred peak of Mount Fuji is a “true view”—an image rooted not in optical reality but in the subjective experience of a site. Bunchō likely based the work on his own encounters with the volcano. He takes pains to convey the specificity of the mountain’s contours and surrounding topography using modeling and subtle spatial recession, while at the same time allowing his inky brushwork to reveal the trace of his hand, a trademark of literati painters.