South Wind, Clear Sky, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji

early 1830s

South Wind, Clear Sky, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, early 1830s. Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760–1849). Color woodblock print; sheet: 25.6 x 37.5 cm (10 1/16 x 14 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Edward L. Whittemore 1930.189 Mt. Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain, appeared in most Japanese 19th-century travel literature. Maps sometimes showed its location with a Fuji-shaped icon and indicated where travelers could get the best view of it. Between 1829 and 1833, Hokusai created a print series depicting thirty-six views of the mountain, including this one, sometimes known as “Red Fuji.” The season in this scene is a time between late summer and early autumn, when the mountain takes on a reddish hue. During the printing process, the natural grain of the cherry wood printing block was imprinted onto the paper along with the red-colored dye.