"Hokusai's Summit: Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji" is full of discoveries. The first surprising fact about this exhibition at the Honolulu Academy of Arts is that there are actually 46 images of Japan's Mount Fuji in the print suite. Why did the 18th-century artist Hokusai create an extra 10 views? Did he carve and print the additional wood blocks in case someone didn't like every one of the first 36? And what about the mountain captured Hokusai's imagination, and kept him working at his craft until he was nearly 90?

The prints in the Academy collection are 200-year-old art, called ukiyo-e, and are so pristine that they are envied by museums around the world.

FUJI WORSHIP

"In the 1780s, if you were one of those who worshipped Japan's Mount Fuji, and you happened to be a woman, you were not allowed to climb the sacred mountain," explains museum director Stephen Little. "The mountain was considered a deity."

For those who were not allowed to climb or could not afford to travel to Fuji, there was a neighborhood solution. Enormous replicas of the mountain were constructed in public parks, often with a view of Fuji. Pilgrims climbed them every day. Japanese woodcut artists documented their ascent.

Katsushika Hokusai, born in 1760, was apprenticed to a woodcarver at age 14. He was an active member of the religious circles that practiced Fuji worship. His images of Fuji became his signature work. Active into his 80s, he created an estimated 30,000 works of art, including the famous wave.

MICHENER'S GIFT

Hokusai's most famous print, "The Great Wave Off Kanagawa," reportedly inspired Claude Debussy to compose the musical masterpiece "Le Mer (The Sea)."

"The Great Wave Off Kanagawa" along with two more of Hokusai's most well-known prints — "Mount Fuji in Clear Weather," often called "Red Fuji," and "Thunderstorm Beneath the Summit" — occupy a prime position in the exhibit.

The prints were donated to the Academy of Arts by author James Michener, who called the wood-block prints "the world's loveliest art." After Michener finished his epic novel, "Hawaii," he gave the museum more than 6,000 prints.

Michener's collection is enhanced by the Richard Lane Collection, a recent addition. In addition to Hokusai's work, the exhibition features art by Hokusai's younger contemporary, Utagawa Hiroshige, as well as European art that influenced the printmakers.

DELICATE PAPER

Shawn Eichman, curator of Asian art at the museum, and Sawako Chang, project manager, explained that the paper used by Hokusai, called washi, is made of the inner bark of the mulberry tree, chopped, mixed in water and dried into sheets of paper.

"Printed on delicate paper with vegetable inks that can fade in even museum lighting, the prints are so sensitive to light and the elements that after showing we have to put them into carefully climate-controlled storage for two or three years," Eichman said.

He is a bit sad that the art must be under glass. "The prints were really made to be handled," he said. "Light comes through the delicate paper and shows the patterns created by the printmaker."

Yet he is quick to note that having these delicate treasures last 200 years is amazing.

This could be the last time the images will be shown in an exhibition of this kind.

HANDS-ON ART

Ukiyo-e blocks are carved in hard cherry wood. Some have as many as 20 colors. The Academy Education Department, led by Aaron Padilla, wanted to share the printmaking experience. Their idea evolved into large rubber-stamp blocks located at stamping stations around the galleries, with the design of "Red Fuji."

Padilla invites everyone to be a woodblock artist.

"Take paper, ink the block and just see if you can get perfect registration of the four colors." Even with guides, registration can still elude the beginning artist.

Padilla also suggests that each visitor take time to contemplate the prints. "Compose a haiku. Write it on the paper that will be added to the haiku scroll."

In November, presentations by Shawn Eichman, Sawako Chang and Academy director Stephen Little will be a window into history and the ways of the Japanese printmaker.