Mount Fuji and the Seven Gods of Good Fortune

Original Language Title富士に七福神

Artist Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760 - 1849)

Date1820 - 1833

MediumHanging scroll; ink and color on silk

DimensionsImage: 16 1/4 × 25 3/8 inches (41.28 × 64.45 cm)
Mount: 52 1/2 × 30 1/4 inches (133.35 × 76.84 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: acquired through the generosity of an anonymous donor

Object numberF74-33

On View

Not on view

Collections

East Asian Art

Terms

Exhibition History

Hokusai: Masterpieces from the Spencer Museum of Art, Richardson-North Collection, and The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, September 21, 2024 - February 1, 2025.

Gallery Label

Recently, [people] began visiting [the shrines of] the Seven Gods of Fortune on New Year’s Day, and many people pay a visit to worship the deities. —Kyōwa Zakki (Random Notes from the Kyōwa Era), 1823.

In the early 1800s, touring the shrines of the Seven Gods of Fortune was a popular New Year’s Day activity. The seven deities were thought to bring good fortune while protecting believers. At the moment of the year’s renewal, worshippers visited the shrines and wished for a fruitful and prosperous year. Here, Hokusai portrayed the deities ascending toward Mount Fuji, a sacred mountain in Japan. The mature pine tree on the right and the crane on the left, two symbols of success and longevity, amplify the excitement for positive things to come.

Provenance

Former owner, by 1974;

Purchased from XXX by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1974.

Published References

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 366.

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), no.72, 400.

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