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Hokusai’s “Great Wave”: From Edo Period Mass Culture to the ¥1,000 Bill

  • Katsushika Hokusai, the Great Wave off Kanagawa, from Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (around 1832). (Courtesy Sumida Hokusai Museum)

    Katsushika Hokusai, the Great Wave off Kanagawa, from Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (around 1832). (Courtesy Sumida Hokusai Museum)

  • Hokusai’s Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji on display at a New York auction house on September 17, 2023. (© Jiji)

    Hokusai’s Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji on display at a New York auction house on September 17, 2023. (© Jiji)

  • The first edition of the score for La Mer, by Claude Debussy (1905). (© Dea/G. Dagli Orti/De Agostini via Getty Images)

    The first edition of the score for La Mer, by Claude Debussy (1905). (© Dea/G. Dagli Orti/De Agostini via Getty Images)

  • Some 350,000 people visited the Hokusai exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris. Picture from September 29, 2014. (© Reuters)

    Some 350,000 people visited the Hokusai exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris. Picture from September 29, 2014. (© Reuters)

  • Left: The Sumida Hokusai Museum, located close to where the artist was born, is popular with international visitors; (© Nippon.com). Right: A poster advertising the Great Wave exhibition, which runs from June 18 to August 25 (Courtesy Sumida Hokusai Museum).

    Left: The Sumida Hokusai Museum, located close to where the artist was born, is popular with international visitors; (© Nippon.com). Right: A poster advertising the Great Wave exhibition, which runs from June 18 to August 25 (Courtesy Sumida Hokusai Museum).

  • Sea off Honmoku in Kanagawa, the “prototype” for the famous wave picture (1804–07). (Courtesy Sumida Hokusai Museum)

    Sea off Honmoku in Kanagawa, the “prototype” for the famous wave picture (1804–07). (Courtesy Sumida Hokusai Museum)

  • In total, Hokusai produced 102 images of Mount Fuji. Fuji Above the Sea (1834) from One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji. Sumida Hokusai Museum. On view throughout the exhibition. (Courtesy Sumida Hokusai Museum)

    In total, Hokusai produced 102 images of Mount Fuji. Fuji Above the Sea (1834) from One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji. Sumida Hokusai Museum. On view throughout the exhibition. (Courtesy Sumida Hokusai Museum)

  • Utagawa Hiroshige, The Sea at Satta, Suruga Province (1858), a late-period homage by a master printmaker to his great predecessor. (Courtesy the British Museum)

    Utagawa Hiroshige, The Sea at Satta, Suruga Province (1858), a late-period homage by a master printmaker to his great predecessor. (Courtesy the British Museum)

  • Inside the exhibition space at the Sumida Hokusai Museum, Tokyo (© Nippon.com)

    Inside the exhibition space at the Sumida Hokusai Museum, Tokyo (© Nippon.com)

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