“Fugaku Sanjurokkei” is a series of landscape prints by the prominent Japanese ukiyo-e (pictures of the floating world) artist Hokusai. The term literally means “36 Views of Mount Fuji”, for which Hokusai depicts Mount Fuji from different locations in various weather conditions. Karuizawa has adopted the theme and introduced Fugaku Sanjurokkei Series, exhibiting one of the 36 striking prints in each release. These releases are drawn from casks of 1999 and 2000 vintages and bottled at cask strength.
Karuizawa distillery sat in the foothills of Mount Asama, where the chilly climate provided an excellent condition for whisky making. Though small, this distillery was known for producing whisky of the finest quality. The distillery was closed in 2011 and hence has made the Karuizawa whiskies extremely rare and valuable.
The 1999-2000 cask strength series comes from the final years of the distilleries production. This comes from the same batch of casks as the highly popular Karuizawa Asama series. The 7th edition presents the “Bay of Noboto”.
The composition is simple, only accentuated by these gates. The color scheme is also simple, using dark green and yellow-green, pale and dark blues, and brown for the torii and the roofs of the buildings. The painting depicts a group of local residient gather clams at low tide in the small fishing village of Noboto, located on the east coast of Japan. In Edo period, most of the seafood such as clams is from Noboto. Next time when you are having seafood, try pairing with the Karuizawa Whisky and enjoy the full taste of eastern islands of Japan.
