Gaifū kaisei
Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji
Katsushika Hokusai
Artwork Description
This image presents Mount Fuji under clear early summer conditions. The title Gaifū kaisei refers to a south wind and clear weather, indicating atmospheric clarity rather than dramatic meteorology. The composition is almost entirely devoted to the mountain itself, with minimal foreground interruption.
Fuji occupies the central vertical axis of the frame. Its triangular mass rises steeply from the lower edge, dominating the picture plane. The lower slopes are rendered in deep reddish tones, while the upper section retains traces of snow. The sky forms a wide horizontal field above, punctuated by elongated bands of cloud.
The structure is simple yet deliberate. The large red plane of the mountain contrasts with the blue sky, creating a strong chromatic opposition. The gradation of color across the slopes gives the form volume without complex shading. Snow along the summit establishes a boundary between red earth and open air.
The mountain’s triangular geometry stands in isolation. There are no figures or architectural elements to interrupt its presence. The composition reduces landscape to its essential form: base, slope, summit, sky.
The print clarifies a structural principle within the series. Rather than framing Fuji within human activity, Hokusai presents it as a solitary form under specific atmospheric conditions. The contrast here is not between labor and permanence, but between color and void, mass and sky. The mountain becomes the entire subject, stabilized within a minimal yet controlled spatial field.
About Katsushika Hokusai
Katsushika Hokusai was one of the most influential ukiyo-e artists of the Edo period. Active as painter and printmaker, he expanded ukiyo-e beyond portraiture into landscapes, nature, and scenes of everyday life.
In Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, Hokusai transformed landscape into a structural system—juxtaposing motion and stillness, labor and faith, industry and leisure—while anchoring each composition with the enduring presence of Mount Fuji.
Reproduction
This work is a 20th century lithographic reproduction of Hokusai’s Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji.
It is not an original Edo period woodblock print, but a later limited edition lithograph.
Hand printed and numbered 180/300 in pencil on the lower margin.
Details
Medium: Lithograph
Edition: 180/300
Size: 410 mm × 600 mm
All artworks are sold as shown in the photographs.
