The Rose of 100 Fuji's, Japan

Mt Fuji is contagious. It gets under your skin. I suspect most Japanese would tell you this in a heartbeat, for those who live in sight of the great volcano, it is a daily, inescapable, undeniable presence, close to the heart and a part of identity. And Fuji is visible from so much of Japan, it has a vast reach and influence.

Hokusai, the great ukiyo-e wood-block artist was pretty much obsessed with Mt Fuji, creating image after image. His 36 Views of Mt Fuji was followed by another series, 100 Views of Mt Fuji, where he depicted so many aspects of Japanese culture from so many different places, but always with the ever-present mountain, somewhere in each image.

This passion that has taken hold of so many Japanese artists across time is certainly infectious. I was fortunate to climb Mt Fuji in fine wether on my way to Tokyo, and so I've created a few modest images of Fuji myself, including this one, The Rose of 100 Fuji's. I just fell into the repetition of this one, and soon a flower emerged...