View of Mount Fuji from Satta Point

From the heights of Satta Pass the eye sweeps over Suruga Bay to the snow-capped cone of Mount Fuji, pines clinging to the cliffs and boats dotting the water far below. Hiroshige, master of the Japanese landscape print, frames the famous viewpoint with bold diagonals and serene graded color, the grandeur of the scene held in perfect compositional calm. The design balances the rugged foreground against the distant, floating peak - a consummate example of how the woodblock landscape could distill a sweeping vista into a few harmonious planes of line and color.