Hokusai’s The Great Wave

Created by Katsushika Hokusai almost 200 years ago, The Great Wave is one of the most famous graphic images in the world. But did you know…
1
The title The Great Wave is not the official name. The real title, inscribed in the cartouche on the left, is The Great Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa oki, nami ura 神奈川沖浪裏)
2
This print is the first in the series “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji,” which captures this geographical landmark from various angles, and in different seasons and weather conditions. The series was so successful that an additional 10 prints were added to the original 36, and eventually a three-volume book called One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji was published.
3
The setting is Tokyo Bay. We catch a glimpse of the dwarfed Mount Fuji through the trough of the colossal wave. Hokusai cleverly uses Western spatial perspective here to maximize the sense of distance. The feeling of motion is created by the three express barges (oshiokuri-bune) attempting to deliver fresh fish to nearby Tokyo: tossed about by the crashing billows, all hands are on deck in the struggle to stay afloat.
4
The composition reads from right to left. To its original Japanese audience, the depicted scene would have been all the more impressive. When reading it from right to left, we notice the fishing barges are going against the current, facing the clawing ominous wave. Meanwhile, the distant volcano stands in witness of the eternal battle between man and nature.
5
Hokusai believed in and revered Mount Fuji as a timeless entity, a spiritual anchor and talisman. He was a member of a religion popular in the Edo period that was rooted in the mountain. Pilgrims climbed Fuji, and those who could not had smaller replicas made – some as tall as 50 feet high!
Artwork at top of page
Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), The Great Wave off Kanagawa, no. 1 from the series “Thirty six Views of Mount Fuji,” 1831-1833, woodblock print, 25.1 x 37.9 cm (sheet), 24.4 x 37.6 cm (image). MMFA, F. Cleveland Morgan Bequest. Photo MMFA, Jean-François Brière