Fine Wind Clear Morning

Fine Wind, Clear Morning is one of Housaki's most famous woodblock prints. It is part of as series of 36 works titled "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji". This is a series of stunning wood block prints all concerning Mount Fuji and displaying the mountain in various different states.

This particular print displays Mount Fuji in early Autumn. The print was made by Housaki in early autumn of 1830. This particular style of Japanese print is known as Ukiyo-e ("pictures of the floating world")It was made at a time when he was at the height of his fame and enjoying the patronage of Nishimura Yohachi one of the leading publishers of wood block prints at the time. This particular example of the Ukiyo-e style is one of the most recognisable and well-known examples of the style and along with Great Wave off Kanagawa (also part of the 36 views of Mount Fuji collection) is among the most recognisable of Housaki's works.

Housaki himself was born in 1760. He was born to an artisan family who lived in the Edo Region. His older work mostly deals with paintings of courtesan and actors as was traditional for the Ukiyo-e style at the time but it would not be till he moved away from creating works centred around actors and courtesans and onto works that concerned the daily life of the average person in Japan that he would experience true success. He was well known for self-promotion and managed to attract a lot of attention.

It is worth noting that Housaki went by many different names throughout his life. In fact, at the time of publishing Thirty-Six views of Mt Fuji, he was using the name Iitsu. Throughout his life, Housaki was constantly attempting to produce higher quality artwork. It is said that on his death bed Housaki yelled out "Just another five more years, then I could become a real painter." Despite his own self-doubt, there is no doubt in the minds of many critics that Housaki's works are among the most beautiful produced during this period anywhere in the world.