“A special guitar that features art by world-renowned artists”: Fender Japan’s latest Art Canvas creations bring an iconic Japanese art landscape print series from the 1800s to the Esquire

Fender has continued to celebrate the first anniversary of its flagship Tokyo store by releasing a new range of Art Canvas Esquires, which brings a trio of iconic Japanese landscape prints to an electric guitar format.

Art Canvas creations aren’t exactly new, and we’ve seen a few of them in the past – including Hiroshi Nagai’s breezy limited edition models – but these new editions take on a whole extra layer of meaning.

To celebrate the milestone in style, Fender Japan has dived into a 19th century print series composed by legendary ukiyo-e artist Hokusai, transforming three landscapes from his famed Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji range into electric guitar body artwork.

The Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji series was composed between 1830 and 1832, and comprises a range of landscape prints that we imagine many of you will immediately recognize – especially The Great Wave off Kanagawa, which is used for one of the Art Canvas Esquires.

The other models, meanwhile, make use of Hokusai’s Thunderstorm Beneath the Summit and Tama River in Musashi Province pieces. And they’re all absolutely stunning.

Art Canvas guitars can be an acquired taste, but the picturesque nature of these models just tick all our boxes. You can bet they play like the real deal, too, thanks to their no-nonsense Esquire setup.

Said setup includes a standard Esquire spec sheet, comprising one American Vintage ‘58 single-coil. Sometimes less is very much more.

All we’re saying is, Hokusai’s Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji range includes 33 more prints – as well as an additional 10 that were later composed after the series’ initial success – which means there is ripe opportunity for an Art Canvas expansion pack.

An Esquire with the artwork of Fine Wind, Clear Morning, or one that flashes Tea House at Koishikawa? Yes. Yes please.

The Art Canvas Esquires aren’t limited edition per se, but they will be limited in stock when the first batch becomes available, and you’ll need to enter a lottery if you fancy picking one up. Each will be available for 198,000 Japanese Yen, which is approximately $1,260.

The lottery entry closes on June 25. Head over to Fender Japan to find out more.

These aren’t the only guitars that celebrate the first anniversary of Fender’s Tokyo store. Earlier this week, Fender Japan unveiled an unprecedented Strat that features an ancient Japanese coating.