The Great Wave by Hokusai: Great Art Explained

Summary

Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa, made around 1830 as part of Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, emerged from Japan’s Edo period, when the country was largely closed to foreign influence. At the same time, a growing merchant class supported a popular print culture known as ukiyo-e—“pictures of the floating world.” These relatively affordable prints brought art to a much wider audience than elite painting, and Hokusai’s series helped make landscape a major subject in ukiyo-e.

The video reads the print as more than a serene image of Japan. Three fishing boats are caught beneath a towering wave, while Mount Fuji appears tiny in the distance. The contrast between the wave’s force and Fuji’s stillness suggests danger and uncertainty. The narrator proposes that the sea may also reflect Japan’s anxieties about foreign incursions and the approaching end of its isolation.

Hokusai drew on Japanese and European approaches to landscape. Dutch prints reached Japan through limited trade, and European perspective influenced the deep spatial recession in the image. Yet the work remains a hybrid: the dramatic foreground wave, distant Fuji, and fluid sense of space combine different visual traditions. Its bold design, vivid color, and dynamic forms later helped influence artists outside Japan.

Artistic Techniques and Ideas

• Dramatic composition: The wave fills roughly two-thirds of the image, while a low horizon and small Mount Fuji intensify the contrast between foreground danger and distant stability.
• Scale and perspective: Hokusai uses deep perspective to make Fuji—Japan’s highest mountain—appear dwarfed by the wave. The narrator connects this approach to European landscape prints.
• Movement and tension: The image captures the instant before the wave crashes. Its curling spray forms claw-like shapes above the fragile boats, creating a sense of imminent danger.
• Light and color: Hokusai uses shades of blue and tonal variation to suggest soft light before dawn or after dusk. Prussian blue, newly available at lower cost, was vivid, offered a broad tonal range, and resisted fading.
• Line and simplification: The series condenses scenes into clear forms, emphasizing line and color. The wave’s spray visually echoes the snow on Fuji.
• Layered interpretation: The fishermen’s struggle and the threatening sea contrast with Fuji’s solidity. The video presents the wave as both a physical force and a possible symbol of Japan’s uncertain future.
• Landscape as a popular subject: Hokusai shifted from celebrity portraits toward landscapes and everyday life. Prints of famous places also appealed to travelers, pilgrims, and other visitors to Mount Fuji.

How a Woodblock Print Was Made

1. A publisher commissioned a design from the artist.
2. The artist drew the image on thin paper as a block-ready drawing.
3. The drawing was glued face-down to a woodblock and rubbed with a baren while damp, removing most of the paper and leaving the image’s lines.
4. A skilled carver cut the design into the block, reproducing the artist’s brush lines. Hard wood, such as cherry, could withstand repeated printing.
5. The artist marked a proof to indicate where the colors should go.
6. The carver made additional blocks—one for each color.
7. The printer inked the blocks, placed paper on them, and used a baren to transfer the ink.
8. Repeated hand-printing caused blocks to wear, so fine details and colors could vary across a print run. The pressure also left distinctive indentations in the handmade paper.

The print’s apparent simplicity depended on close collaboration and considerable craft. The video says The Great Wave was probably printed at least 8,000 times.

Creators and Contributors Mentioned

• Katsushika Hokusai, the artist.
• The publisher, block cutter or carver, and printer, whose skilled work was essential to producing the prints.
• Vincent van Gogh, mentioned at the end as the subject of the next video; the narrator says he believes one of Van Gogh’s paintings was directly inspired by The Great Wave.