---
title: "Ejiri in Suruga Province — AP Art History Definition"
description: "Ejiri in Suruga Province is Hokusai's ukiyo-e print of travelers caught in a gust of wind, from the same Mount Fuji series as The Great Wave. It appeared on the 2023 AP exam."
canonical: "https://fiveable.me/ap-art-history/key-terms/ejiri-in-suruga-province"
type: "key-term"
subject: "AP Art History"
unit: "Unit 8"
---

# Ejiri in Suruga Province — AP Art History Definition

## Definition

Ejiri in Suruga Province is a polychrome woodblock print by Katsushika Hokusai from his series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Edo period, c. 1830-1833), showing travelers battling a sudden gust of wind, papers flying, with Fuji calm in the distance. It exemplifies ukiyo-e's focus on fleeting everyday moments.

## What It Is

Ejiri in Suruga Province (Sunshū Ejiri) is a [woodblock print](/ap-art-history/key-terms/woodblock-print "fv-autolink") by [Katsushika Hokusai](/ap-art-history/key-terms/katsushika-hokusai "fv-autolink") from his famous series **Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji**, made in Edo-period Japan around 1830-1833. The scene is pure chaos in miniature. A gust of wind rips across a marshy road, travelers clutch their hats, sheets of paper scatter into the sky, and a tree bends sideways. Meanwhile Mount Fuji sits in the background, pale, still, and completely unbothered.

That contrast is the whole point. Ukiyo-e means 'pictures of the floating world,' an art of fleeting, everyday moments made for a popular urban [audience](/ap-art-history/unit-2/purpose-audience-ancient-mediterranean-art/study-guide/ZSYoQtYenMTgskR77h43 "fv-autolink"), and Ejiri freezes one of the most fleeting moments imaginable, a single second of wind. Like the rest of the series, it pairs that temporary human drama with the permanence of Fuji. The print is not one of the 250 required works in the AP image set, but it comes from the exact same series as one that is, Under the Wave off Kanagawa (The Great Wave). That makes it a classic 'beyond the image set' work the exam can hand you as a stimulus.

## Why It Matters

This term lives in **Topic 8.4 (Japan)** within [Unit 8](/ap-art-history/unit-8 "fv-autolink"): South, East, and Southeast Asia. It supports learning objective **[AP Art History](/ap-art-history "fv-autolink") 8.4.A**, explaining how theories and interpretations of art are shaped by visual analysis and available evidence, because the exam expects you to look at an unfamiliar Hokusai print and reason your way to its series, style, and cultural context using what you know from The Great Wave. It also touches **AP Art History 8.4.B** (how cultural interactions affect art making), since Hokusai's prints sit inside a story of exchange. Japanese ukiyo-e absorbed imported materials and ideas and later flooded into Europe, reshaping Western art. Ejiri is your proof that AP Art History tests skills, not just memorized facts about the 250. If you only know The Great Wave as a flashcard, this print exposes that. If you actually understand ukiyo-e, you can handle it cold.

## Connections

### Under the Wave off Kanagawa (The Great Wave) (Unit 8)

Ejiri and The Great Wave are siblings from the same series, [Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji](/ap-art-history/key-terms/thirty-six-views-of-mount-fuji "fv-autolink"), and they run the same play. A huge natural force (a wave, a gust of wind) overwhelms small human figures while Fuji stays serene in the distance. Knowing one lets you decode the other on sight.

### [Hokusai (Unit 8)](/ap-art-history/key-terms/hokusai)

[Hokusai](/ap-art-history/key-terms/hokusai "fv-autolink") is the artist behind both prints and the name the exam attaches to Edo-period ukiyo-e. His woodblock process, carved blocks printed in multiple colors, made images cheap and reproducible, which is why this was popular art for ordinary city dwellers, not elite court painting.

### [Heian Japan (Unit 8)](/ap-art-history/key-terms/heian-japan)

Heian art was made for a tiny aristocratic court; [ukiyo-e prints](/ap-art-history/key-terms/ukiyo-e-prints "fv-autolink") like Ejiri were mass-produced for merchants and townspeople. Putting the two side by side gives you a ready-made argument about how audience and patronage reshape Japanese art over time.

### [Blue-and-white porcelain (Unit 8)](/ap-art-history/key-terms/blue-and-white-porcelain)

Both blue-and-white porcelain and Hokusai's prints show East Asian art shaped by trade and made in multiples for wide audiences. They are Unit 8's two best examples of reproducible art moving along global exchange networks, the core idea of LO 8.4.B.

## On the AP Exam

Ejiri in Suruga Province appeared as the stimulus for the 2023 SAQ Question 3, which identified it as a print by Katsushika Hokusai from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. That is the standard move for works outside the required 250. The exam shows you the unfamiliar image, names it, and asks you to use visual analysis to connect it to a required work, an artistic tradition, or a cultural context. Your job is to recognize the ukiyo-e features (polychrome woodblock print, everyday subject, flattened space, the fleeting-moment theme, Fuji as the constant) and link them to what you already know from The Great Wave and Topic 8.4. In a multiple-choice set, expect questions about medium, function, audience, or how the print reflects Edo-period popular culture.

## Ejiri in Suruga Province vs Under the Wave off Kanagawa (The Great Wave)

The Great Wave is the required image-set work; Ejiri in Suruga Province is its lesser-known sibling from the same series and is not in the 250. Both are Hokusai polychrome woodblock prints contrasting a momentary natural force with a distant, stable Mount Fuji. The difference is the drama. The Great Wave threatens boats with a towering wave, while Ejiri scatters travelers' hats and papers in a gust of wind. On the exam, The Great Wave is what you must know cold, and Ejiri is the kind of stimulus used to test whether that knowledge transfers.

## Key Takeaways

- Ejiri in Suruga Province is a polychrome woodblock print by Hokusai from Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Edo Japan, c. 1830-1833), showing travelers caught in a sudden gust of wind.
- It is a textbook example of ukiyo-e, 'pictures of the floating world,' which captured fleeting everyday moments for a popular urban audience rather than an elite court.
- The print contrasts a chaotic, temporary human moment in the foreground with a calm, permanent Mount Fuji in the background, the signature idea of the whole series.
- It is not one of the 250 required works, but it appeared as the stimulus for the 2023 SAQ Question 3, where you had to apply what you know about Hokusai and ukiyo-e to an unfamiliar image.
- It supports AP Art History 8.4.A by showing how visual analysis lets you interpret a work, and 8.4.B because ukiyo-e sits within a broader story of cross-cultural artistic exchange.

## FAQs

### What is Ejiri in Suruga Province in AP Art History?

It is a woodblock print by Katsushika Hokusai from his series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (c. 1830-1833), depicting travelers struggling against a gust of wind that scatters their papers while Mount Fuji sits calmly in the distance. It exemplifies ukiyo-e's focus on fleeting everyday moments.

### Is Ejiri in Suruga Province one of the 250 required works?

No. The required work from this series is Under the Wave off Kanagawa (The Great Wave). Ejiri matters because the College Board used it as the stimulus for the 2023 SAQ Question 3, testing whether you could apply your knowledge of Hokusai and ukiyo-e to a work outside the image set.

### How is Ejiri in Suruga Province different from The Great Wave?

Both are Hokusai prints from Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji with the same core idea, a momentary natural force versus a permanent Fuji. The Great Wave shows boats menaced by a giant wave and is in the required 250; Ejiri shows wind scattering travelers' hats and papers and is not in the image set.

### What is ukiyo-e and why does Ejiri count as ukiyo-e?

Ukiyo-e means 'pictures of the floating world,' Edo-period Japanese woodblock prints made cheaply in multiples for ordinary city dwellers. Ejiri qualifies because it freezes a single fleeting second of everyday life, a gust of wind hitting travelers on a road, rather than depicting gods, rulers, or court ceremony.

### Why is Mount Fuji in the background of Ejiri in Suruga Province?

Every print in Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji includes Fuji somewhere, often small and distant. Its stillness contrasts with the temporary chaos in the foreground, suggesting permanence behind life's fleeting moments. Naming that contrast is exactly the kind of visual analysis LO 8.4.A rewards.

## Related Study Guides

- [8.1 Materials, Processes, and Techniques in South, East, and Southeast Asian Art](/ap-art-history/unit-8/materials-techniques-south-east-southeast-asian-art/study-guide/e3TyfVGfEUaKlxuZmXIT)

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