Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji

<p>The thirty-six woodblock prints that were the inspiration for this collection of writings were made by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). The pieces show different views of Mount Fuji from various waystations where people would go to look at the beautiful mountain. The writings in this book are haibun a literary form originating in Japan that combines prose-autobiography diary entries essay or short story-and poetry-often haiku. Hokusai was in his seventies when he produced the Mount Fuji series; the author Martin Willitts Jr. was seventy years old when he began studying the prints attempting to merge himself with Hokusai.</p>