About the Artwork
Mount Ibuki in Snow is a Japanese ukiyo-e print by Katsushika Hokusai, created in the early nineteenth century as part of his celebrated series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (c. 1830–1833). Though Mount Fuji remains the conceptual anchor of the series, Hokusai often situates it within broader landscapes, using other mountains to explore atmosphere, season, and scale.
The composition presents Mount Ibuki blanketed in snow, its mass rising sharply against a pale winter sky. The mountain’s slopes are rendered with crisp contours and dense shadow, while the snow softens their severity, creating a tension between weight and stillness. Hokusai’s restrained palette - icy whites, muted blues, and earthy greys - emphasises the cold clarity of the scene. Any trace of human presence is diminished or absent, reinforcing the dominance of the landscape itself.
Here, winter is not depicted as dramatic or hostile, but as quiet and absolute. The snow absorbs sound and movement, flattening time into a moment of deep stillness. Unlike scenes that celebrate labour or travel, Mount Ibuki in Snow offers withdrawal. The mountain appears closed, self-contained, and indifferent to observation, its scale asserting a form of natural authority that resists intimacy.
Today, the print resonates as a meditation on endurance and restraint. In a world defined by speed and constant visibility, Hokusai’s winter landscape insists on slowness and opacity. Its power lies in what is withheld: colour, movement, narrative. What remains is a stark encounter with permanence shaped by season, reminding viewers that nature’s most profound expressions are often its quietest.
About the Artist
