Culture Ark · Browse the gallery · The Great Wave off Kanagawa in the gallery · 60 illustrated picks on Apiary
CA0013 · visual art
Creator/community: Katsushika Hokusai; Edo-period Japanese woodblock-print culture Place/era: Japan, approximately 1830–1832, Edo period
Generated interpretation
Invented still life of uncarved wood, blank paper, blue pigment and printing tools; thematic craft illustration, not Hokusai’s workshop or a process diagram. Credit: AI-generated for Culture Ark using OpenAI image_gen, 2026-11-01. Rights: AI-generated output; no exclusive ownership or guaranteed copyrightability claimed. Changes: Resized within1400px and converted to WebP; no crop or substantive alteration.
Interpretive presentation artwork, not documentary evidence. Underlying music, film, brands and personality rights remain separate.
Documented reference / existing artwork
Hokusai, Under the Wave off Kanagawa, about 1830–32. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, JP1847. Credit: Katsushika Hokusai / The Metropolitan Museum of Art. H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929. Rights: Public domain; Met Open Access. Changes: Resized within1400px and converted to WebP; no crop or substantive alteration. Image source Image licence
The source API explicitly marks this object isPublicDomain=true. Credit retained for provenance.
History and context
Hokusai’s color woodblock print places a curling sea above small boats, with Mount Fuji appearing far away beneath the wave. It belongs to Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, so the apparent main subject is also a frame for looking at the mountain. The Metropolitan Museum dates its impression to about 1830–1832 and identifies its medium as ink and color on paper. The image rewards slow looking: the mountain’s compact triangle contrasts with the spreading water, while the people remain small within the composition. Preserve an identified museum impression rather than an uncredited modern redraw, so future readers can distinguish the historical print from the many later pictures inspired by it.
What future readers can learn
It makes landscape, scale and perspective intelligible through a single image, while the print medium invites discussion of art made in multiple impressions rather than one unique painting.
Limits and cultural context
Dates and condition vary between impressions. This entry identifies the Met’s JP1847, not every surviving print. Do not confuse an old underlying artwork with automatic permission for every modern reproduction.
Where to learn more
- Source 1
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- Full information
- Official media / further listening — link only; playback and future availability not guaranteed.
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