SOUTH WIND, CLEAR SKY (Katsushika Hokusai)

N.1 fukkoku woodblock print
Period: 21st century
Condition: very good
Size: 40 x 27,5 cm

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Description

In early autumn, when the wind is southerly and the sky is clear, the rising sun can turn Mount Fuji red. In this famous woodblock print, also known as “Red Fuji” (赤富士), the artist Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾北斎) captures this moment giving to the observer “one of the simplest and at the same time one of the most outstanding of all Japanese prints” (Gian Carlo Calza, Hokusai, 2003 Phaidon, p. 471).

The work, printed for the first time around 1830-31 by the publisher Nishimuraya Yohachi (西村屋与八), owner of Eijudo (永寿堂), is taken from the famous series “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji” (富嶽三十六景) and is titled “South Wind, Clear Sky” (凱風快晴).

The woodblock print on Japanese washi paper (和紙) is presented here in a fine edition of the 21st century made by the carver Asaka Motoharu (朝香元晴) and by the printer Hishimura Toshi (菱村敏) commissioned by Sakai Kokodo (酒井好古堂), one of the oldest store specialized in ukiyo-e (浮世絵) in Tokyo, and is in very good condition.