Under the Wave off Kanagawa
The Great Wave
Katsushika Hokusai · c. 1830 to 1832
01
Edo. Around 1831.
Hokusai is about seventy.
A new series: Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji.
02
The wave stands over everything.
Its crest breaks into claws.
03
Three boats under it.
The rowers keep their heads down.
Nobody looks up.
04
The blue is new.
Prussian blue. Imported from Europe.
05
Now find the mountain.
There. Under the wave.
The series is about Fuji. Here it's the smallest thing.
The whole wave.
Uncropped.
“From the age of six I had a penchant for copying the forms of things.”
1905
Paris. Debussy's La Mer goes to print.
The cover is a detail of this wave.
A Japanese print, on a French score.
Katsushika Hokusai
Japanese · Ukiyo-e · 1760 to 1849
Sources · 5
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