Fujimigahara in Owari Province (Bishū Fujimigahara), from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei)
Katsushika Hokusai Japanese
Not on view
By framing Fuji and the cooper in the interior of the barrel and by casting the cooper's body in the same triangular form as that of Fuji beyond, Hokusai effects an intimate dialogue between the haggard man and the iconic mountain. This one-to-one relationship makes not only for a strong visual analogy between mountain and man but also for a potent iconographical one. The juxtaposition of the cooper and Fuji lends a religious overtone to the man's honest labor and existence.