2-730-099 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Fuji in Clear Weather (from the series Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji), early 1830s. Mt. Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain, appeared in most 18th-century travel literature. Maps sometimes situated Mt. Fuji’s icon to designate its actual geographical location and to indicate where travelers could get the best view of this cone-shaped mountain. Between 1829 and 1833, Hokusai created the famous print series depicting thirty-six views of the mountain. During the printing process, the natural grain of the cherry wood printing block was imprinted onto the paper in red. This image of Mt. Fuji is therefore sometimes also known as "The Red Fuji." The season in this scene is a time between late summer and early autumn, when the mountain takes on a reddish hue.