The Great Wave off Kanagawa

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The Great Wave off Kanagawa — (1831) by Katsushika Hokusai, 25×37cm

Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾北斎) (1760-1849) was an Edo period Japanese artist, painter, wood engraver and ukiyo-e maker, born in Edo (now Tokyo). Author of the 13-volume sketchbook Hokusai manga (begun in 1814) and the block prints "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji," (created around 1830-1831), which includes "The Great Wave at Kanagawa." He is considered one of the outstanding figures of the ukiyo-e, or "pictures of the floating world" (everyday life), school of printmaking. Hokusai is also renowned for his erotic prints in shunga style. His "Fukujusô", a series of twelve prints celebrating the glory of flesh and passion, is considered one of the three greatest shunga works. His art was an important source of inspiration for many European impressionists like Claude Monet.

"Behind the Great Wave at Kanagawa"(神奈川沖波裏 or Kanagawa oki nami ura) depicts a great wave about to devour the men and boats, with a distant Mount Fuji framed by the wave. It is said to be a snapshot picture of a day of labor; one can see men on barges, carrying fish. The waves in this work are sometimes mistakenly referred to as tsunami (津波), but they are more accurately called okinami (沖波), off-shore waves.

As a Westerner, without any cultural conditioning or background in Japanese prints, glancing at the image, one will be invariably drawn first to the largest of the waves, only later discovering Mt. Fuji. For Japanese, however, the ‘normal,’ traditional way to view the print would be from right to left, implying “that Hokusai’s Great Wave was designed to tumble into the viewer’s face, so to speak” ^[1]. More importantly, by viewing the print in this manner, one quickly discovers Mt. Fuji; indeed, the viewer is naturally drawn to linger on Mt. Fuji by the sloping of the waves, as it appears perfectly at the bottom of the trough.

Another important difference between ‘The Great Wave’ and earlier manifestations of the print is the stunning use of color in the final print, namely, that of Berlin Blue, or bero. Looking at the print, shades of bero dominate, coloring the water, people, and Mt. Fuji. The color is thick, bold, and aggressive (contrast this with some of the other wave prints displayed below). Although the publisher of the prints certainly had a hand in Hokusai’s wide use of the ink, due to the recent popularity of the color, Hokusai himself probably sought to employ the bero not only for commercial reasons, but also as a result of personal taste. As Professor Henry D. Smith II offers, “…the symbolic meanings of the colour blue, with its implications of water and rebirth, must have been of great personal appeal to Hokusai himself as he embarked on his ‘second life’.” Whatever the dominant cause, the coloring of ‘The Great Wave’ certainly did nothing to harm the overall popularity of this print.

[edit] The Great Wave

"Original" type, printed around 1830-1831.

"Original" type. Facsimile of a woodblock made ca. 1930 exactly the same way as they were made by artisans ca. 1830.

Reproduction from a miniature edition by Takamizawa, Japan

Signature and title

[edit] Details

[edit] Similar works

Kaijo no fuji, second volume des cents vues du mont Fuji, 1834, Hokusai. It is a mirrored version of the famous Big wave of Kanagawa from the 36 views of the Fuji. There are no boats and the wave crests are birds.			Oshiokuri Hato Tsusen no Zu (Fast Cargo Boat Battling The Waves), 1905, Hokusai
	Kanagawa-oki Honmoku no zu (View of Honmoku off Kanagawa), 1903, Hokusai	Mille Images de l’océan (Chie no umi), Chōshi dans la province de Shimosa (Sōshū Chōshi), 1832-1834, Hokusai.