Primary sourcePainting1831

Sazai Hall - Temple of Five Hundred Rakan

Katsushika Hokusai · 1831

A 1831 print from Hokusai's Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji series, showing townspeople viewing Fuji from a temple balcony.

Hokusai designed this print as part of his famous Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji series.

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Woodblock print of a wooden veranda of a temple hall, with several people in kimono on the deck looking toward a distant view of Mount Fuji across a river and fields. A tiled roof and a hanging bell are at upper right, and a title cartouche is at upper left. — Katsushika Hokusai, Sazai Hall - Temple of Five Hundred Rakan, 1831. Brooklyn Museum.

About this source

What it is

This is a woodblock print made in 1831 by Katsushika Hokusai, part of his series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. It shows a temple's wooden veranda with people in kimono looking across a river toward Mount Fuji in the distance, held today at the Brooklyn Museum.

Why it matters

This print is one of Hokusai's most celebrated works, showing how he placed the sacred and permanent mountain within scenes of everyday leisure and ordinary Edo townspeople. It reflects the rise of travel and tourism culture in Japan at the time, and Hokusai's gift for combining landscape with scenes of daily life.

Look closer

What are the people on the balcony doing, and how does that affect the mood of the print?
Why might Hokusai have chosen to show Fuji from far away rather than close up?
What does the title tell us about the place being depicted?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Hokusai on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Women in a Rowing Boat on a Lotus Pond

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