Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji: Fine Wind, Clear Morning

The Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji series is one of Hokusai's benchmark works in the famous scenery genre and indeed is historically important as the series that established the famous sites genre in ukiyo-e prints. This print from the series, known by its nickname "Red Fuji," and The Great Wave off Kanagawa known as "The Great Wave," are two particularly renowned works from the series. Compared to the complex coiling composition of the Great Wave, this print is clear and straightforward compositionally, with the bulk of Mt. Fuji traversed by trailing clouds. In addition to images by Hokusai, While Hokusai's images of the sacred mountain were just part of its long history of pictorial depiction, this work has an unparalleled focus on its simple shape. This scene is possibly the mountain dyed red by the dawn sun, as early summer "fine winds" blow from the south. The resulting reddish tone of Mt. Fuji's slopes is recorded in other paintings and written accounts, but here Hokusai has not simply created a red mountain surface, he heightened that colored surface to create a more striking contrast with the surrounding colors.