葛飾北斎　｢富嶽三十六景　神奈川沖浪裏｣　浮世絵錦絵　江戸時代

At first glance, snow-capped Mount Fuji looks calm in the background of this print, far from the boats and towering waves. But the mountain is slightly obscured by a boat whose sharp, sickle-like tip threatens to lop off Mount Fuji’s peak, and recent scholarship suggests that this print has political implications. Mount Fuji, a symbol of Japan, is menaced by boats and overpowering waves, both of which may imply a fear of foreign powers encroaching on Japanese shores. Indeed, in 1853, roughly twenty years after this print was made, the American commodore Matthew Perry led a United States Navy fleet into the Tokyo harbor and forcibly opened Japan to trade.