Fuji in Clear Weather (Red Fuji), from the series Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji

This series of woodblock prints shows Mount Fuji from a broad array of different viewpoints, each one unique. Hokusai also produced a series of prints entitled One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji, demonstrating that he pursued his quest to portray Japan's highest mountain in all its aspects with a certain obsessiveness. Against a background of soft clouds blown along by the south wind at the beginning of summer, bare Mount Fuji is here portrayed in russet tones, for which reason it is also known as the "Red Fuji." For Hokusai, this was the true aspect of the mountain. The feeling of tension produced by the steep slopes rearing up into the sky has caused this picture to be regarded as Hokusai's masterpiece, as well as a masterpiece among Japanese woodblock prints.