South Wind, Clear Sky (Red Fuji) — Katsushika Hokusai (ca. 1830–32)

Hokusai’s Red Fuji

Mount Fuji rises in warm red against a clear blue sky in Katsushika Hokusai’s South Wind, Clear Sky (Gaifū kaisei), often called Red Fuji. Created around 1830–32 as part of the Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji series, the print turns a familiar landscape into a bold arrangement of color and shape.

The Power of Less

Hokusai pares the scene back to three dominant colors: the blue of the sky, the red of the mountain, and the green of the trees at its base. Snow and clouds provide small, pale accents, but nothing distracts from Fuji’s sweeping silhouette. The result feels remarkably direct, with a clarity that still speaks to modern poster design.

Look closely at the top edge of the sky. The deep indigo gradually softens toward the lighter blue below, a woodblock-print gradation known as bokashi. This horizontal band of shading, sometimes described as ichimonji bokashi, gives a spare composition a subtle sense of atmospheric depth. Fine lines describe the mountain’s slopes, while the small trees make its scale feel even greater.

Red Fuji and the Great Wave: Stillness and Motion

Compare South Wind, Clear Sky with Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa, another print from the same series. In the Great Wave, the towering water and precarious boats create a moment of motion, while Fuji sits small and distant beneath the wave. In Red Fuji, the mountain itself dominates the frame, steady beneath an open sky.

The contrast is striking: a low view from the sea gives the Great Wave its immediate drama, while Red Fuji offers an unobstructed view of the mountain and sky. These two prints make a compelling visual comparison, although it would go too far to say with certainty that Hokusai intended them as a formal pair.

Explore more works by the artist in our Katsushika Hokusai poster collection.