Artist's commentary
Dragon Climbing Mt. Fuji
"If heaven will afford me five more years of life, then I'll manage to become a true artist."
Those were Katsushika Hokusai's last words.
"Dragon Climbing Mount Fuji," also rendered in the west as "Dragon Flying Over Mount Fuji" or "The Dragon of Smoke Escaping from Mount Fuji," was completed by Hokusai in the year 1849. As Hokusai passed away in the same year at the age of ninety, this painting is often considered one of Hokusai's very last.
After he completed the "Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji" at age seventy, his passion for art didn't fade as he continued to create. He went so far as to dismiss his creations before the "Thirty-Six Views" as worthless doodles. It is said he started to grasp the essence of all animal's skeletal structures and the secret of life for all plants at the age of 73. By eighty, he had furthered his understanding of all things in nature. By ninety, he had reached enlightenment. Had he lived to one hundred years old, his skill might have reached the realm of the divine. By one hundred and ten, he could have made his paintings come alive.
Artists of his time understood the rising dragon over Mt. Fuji to be an auspicious sign, one that signifies a person's rise to success. However, one can also see Hokusai's endless conviction in this painting. Even as he sensed his own end, he did not give in to despair and continued his endless pursuit of artistic heights none before him had ever attained.