Thirty-Six Ways of Looking at Mt. Fuji

By Avigayil Finkelstein

July 2026

Inspired by Nakahara in Sagami Province, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji by Katsushika Hokusai

[1]

At rosy dawn

And dusky eve

Mt. Fuji kisses the thin band of the horizon.

 

[2]

A basket balanced on my hand

One hand to stabilize

Mt. Fuji rests on the horizon.

 

[3]

Minnows swim across my ankles

Water laps at my calves

Cool as the snow that sits on Mt. Fuji.

 

[4]

The silt-speckled shore

Is soft beneath my toes

I rest in the shade of Mt. Fuji.

 

[5]

A fan of green leaves

A spray of yellow sand

The sharp indigo wedge of Mt. Fuji.

 

[6]

The top of a man’s head

A square slice of panorama

The snow-capped peak of Mt. Fuji.

 

[7]

Sandaled feet cross wooden boards

Backs turned from the sun

Chins thrust forward to face Mt. Fuji.

 

[8]

A mustache droops across his face

A yoke curves across his shoulders

The plains are flat at the foot of Mt. Fuji.

 

[9]

A triangle f pale flesh

A hand lifts a hem

Sodden as tear-stained Mt. Fuji.

 

[10]

Shrubs ring the water

Their roots drinking deep

They reach for the ground beneath Mt. Fuji.

 

[11]

A conical hat

Straps across the chin

Both pointed like the tip of Mt. Fuji.

 

[12]

Twelve stanzas done

The pen never rests

One-third of the way up Mt. Fuji.

 

[13]

The crumbling stone

Is etched with words

Jagged like the crags of Mt. Fuji.

 

[14]

The straw-thatched roof

Brushes the trees

Mt. Fuji brushes the sky.

 

[15]

The legs of the dock

Grow soft in the stream

That flows at the feet of Mt Fuji.

 

[16]

One foot tipped forward

The vast yellow plains

Lie between him and Mt. Fuji.

 

[17]

The blue of his robe

Draped in its folds

Like the sky which touches Mt. Fuji.

 

[18]

Baskets atop their heads

Clouds atop the baskets

They scuttle across the midpoint of Mt. Fuji.

 

[19]

Fish in the water

People on the land

Like minnows to hulking Mt. Fuji.

 

[20]

The air is crisp

The day is still

It wraps ‘round serene old Mt. Fuji.

 

[21]

Solid and silent

The unchanging slopes

Huh—magma at the core of Mt. Fuji.

 

[22]

A thumbprint where land meets sky

Or a colossus at my shoulder

We live in the shade of Mt. Fuji.

 

[23]

What phantom haunts my days?

What lurks in the corner of my eye?

Oh—it’s the shadow of Mt. Fuji.

 

[24]

The great writer’s presence

Cuts through stories like a river

He looms like the slope of Mt. Fuji.

 

[25]

The long arm of destiny

Its sinewy grasp

Like the shadows that claw at Mt. Fuji.

 

[26]

The great candelabra

His words drip like gold

Constant as sun-drenched Mt. Fuji.

 

[27]

Laboring lungs

Walking stick in hand

Life is a slog up Mt. Fuji.

 

[28]

The unscrawled notebook

Like untrodden snow

It is blank at the base of Mt. Fuji.

 

[29]

This cursed pen

Runs dry of ink

Is there more to be said of Mt. Fuji?

 

[30]

Hokusai wandered

With brush in hand

To thirty-six views of Mt. Fuji

 

[31]

If a painter can do it

Then so can I

Say thirty-six things of Mt. Fuji.

 

[32]

Like Stevens’s blackbirds

In their snow-laden trees

Thirty-six verses of Fuji.

 

[33]

A ribbon of stream

Treetops like shrubs

I look down from the slopes of Mt. Fuji.

 

[34]

The people below

Holding water like hats

Like ants from the view on Mt. Fuji.

 

[35]

The end is in sight

As dawn breaks to day

Sunrise on the summit of Mt. Fuji.

 

[36]

My pen sweats ink

Its muscles cramp

I have crested the peak of Mt. Fuji