Mount Fuji in Clear Weather, or Red Fuji

Catalog note / 解説

Gaifü Kaisei (literally, clear day with a southern breeze) is commonly known as Mount Fuji at Dawn, or the shorter Red Fuji. Here the mountain rises in the right third of the composition, extending in a long ridge to the left bottom. The base is covered densely with trees, here reduced to tiny dots. Among the many works depicting Mount Fuji, none surpasses this powerful and pleasant rendering. It is said that Fuji takes on a red color in early morning and around sunset. It looks best when bright red, which occurs under special conditions when many small, undulating clouds float in the clear sky. The abundance of clouds in this composition indicates that Hokusai had actually seen Mount Fuji…