The Great Wave off Kanagawa By Katsushika Hokusai

The Great Wave by Katsushika Hokusai, known as Under the Wave off Kanagawa, is the artist's most famous painting. Created between 1830 and 1832, it is also one of the most recognizable images of Japanese art.

The print is a “yoko-e,” referring to landscape artworks created in ōban size, roughly 25 centimeters by 37 centimeters.
This small woodcut depicts three boats threatened by an enormous wave. The scene lies just off Sagami Bay, in the Kanagawa Prefecture, with Mount Fuji visible in the background.

Why did Katsushika Hokusai paint The Great Wave?

The Great Wave painting forms part of a more extensive collection of a series entitled Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. Within this work, Hokusai offers fascinating glimpses into everyday Japanese life and landscapes. Hokusai’s exact inspirations for creating this composition remain shrouded in mystery. However, we know he held an enduring artistic fascination, even verging on obsession, with the famous mountain. As the name suggests, every scene features Mount Fuji in some way. Sometimes Mount Fuji dominates the pictorial space, while in other instances it offers a mere glimpse into the background.

From the age of twelve, Hokusai spent his early career working in a bookstore.  He was later employed as an engraver and an apprentice to the legendary Katsukawa Shunshō, giving the artist an immense knowledge of artistic techniques and practices.

Aged 70, Katsushika Hokusai produced Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, although he created many of The Great Wave paintings throughout his long career. Hokusai's paintings, View of Honmoku off Kanagawa, c1803, and Cargo Boat Passing through Waves, c1805, present similar views of small ships dwarfed by towering waters.

What does The Great Wave by Hokusai Symbolize?

Fiercely debated amongst art historians, Katsushika Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa is a topic of intense interest. Yet, in this woodcut, Japan’s grandest mountain appears as a small, seemingly insignificant detail amidst a swirling wave.

The wave appears as an enormous, shifting monster, perhaps symbolizing the power of nature. It almost crushes the comparatively tiny boats drawn into its undulating motion. As “oshiokuri-bune,” these fast boats primarily transported live fish to Japan’s thriving coastal markets.

Not only does Mount Fuji provide perspective to the piece, but it also represents stillness and solidity. In Japanese culture, Mount Fuji is a sacred object of worship and an emblem of national identity and beauty. It also links to ideas of immortality and eternity within Buddhist and Daoist traditions.

Indeed, a popular interpretation of the mountain’s name suggests “Fu-Shi,” which translates directly as “not death.” Instead, Katsushika Hokusai's paintings may represent the artist's ambition for artistic immortality. Contrasting this, however, is the unceasing unpredictability of the ocean, representing life and death, white and dark, the essential opposites that fascinate all great artists.

The wave’s claw-like white foam contrasts with the Prussian Blue and Indigo pigments forming the depths of Hokusai’s ocean. Prussian Blue paint was a relatively new material at the time, of which Hokusai took full advantage.

Where is Hokusai's original artwork?

Katsushika Hokusai’s The Great Wave is held alongside an extensive collection of other Hokusai and Japanese art at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The series is incredibly popular, and around 5,000 copies were likely produced.  

It is difficult to pinpoint a single original Katsushika Hokusai piece of art. However, original impressions are at the Art Institute of Chicago, Claude Monet’s Giverny home, the Brussels Art and History Museum, and at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg. The Museum purchased the print for £130,000 back in 2008, reflecting the continued importance of the work.

Famous Painting Reproductions of art by Katsushika Hokusai form part of our standard catalog of replica paintings.