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Primary sourcePainting1830

The Great Wave off Kanagawa

Katsushika Hokusai · 1830

A woodblock print by Hokusai showing a huge wave towering over fishing boats with Mount Fuji small in the distance; his most famous design.

Hokusai's own design and most celebrated print, the work for which he is best known worldwide.

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Woodcut print in blue, cream and tan tones of a huge curling wave with claw-like foam fingers rising over two boats full of rowers. Small Mount Fuji appears in the distance under a pale sky. Japanese calligraphy sits in a cartouche at upper left.
Katsushika Hokusai, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, 1830. Museum of Art and Crafts Hamburg.

About this source

What it is

This is a woodblock print made by Katsushika Hokusai around 1830, the first in his series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. It shows three boats struggling in a storm as a giant wave curls above them, with Mount Fuji tiny in the background. A copy is held by the Museum of Art and Crafts Hamburg.

Why it matters

Hokusai used imported Prussian blue pigment and a Western-style low horizon to make the wave feel enormous and the mountain distant and calm. The print became hugely popular in Japan and later in Europe, where it helped spark a craze for Japanese art known as Japonisme, influencing painters like Monet and Van Gogh.

Look closer

  • Why do you think Hokusai made the wave so much bigger than the mountain?
  • What does the choice of blue pigment tell you about trade and new materials reaching Japan?
  • What is left out of the picture — do we know what happens to the boats?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Hokusai on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji

Katsushika Hokusai · c. 1830-1832

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Women in a Rowing Boat on a Lotus Pond

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Fine Wind, Clear Morning

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