In contrast to the quietness of Mt. Fuji, which is far and small, the high waves are raging and striking the ship.
The contrast between distant view and near view is also a characteristic picture. And Katsushika Hokusai expressed the human’s powerless and the grandness of the nature.
In front of the raging waves like sharp nails, all people can do is shrinking their bodies and without moving. It is a composition that impressively expresses stillness and movement invented by Hokusai.
Thorugh the work of “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji”, he did not just draw the pictures with emphasis on a scenery he saw, and this picture may have been combined two or more viewpoints.
It is difficult to identify the spots, but still, the ukiyo-e print is thought that based on what was seen from the offshore of Kisarazu-shi, Chiba Prefecture considering from the shape Mt. Fuji and title of ‘wave off Kanagawa’.
The three ships like an unreliable willow leaf were called Oshiokuri-sen(押送船), and the sailor rowed the oar without sails. They carried the fishes caught in the sea near the Boso Peninsula(Chiba Prefecture) on this boat and brought it to Edo in Kanto area.
The artworks of The Great Wave off Kanagawa also led to the Hokusai’s later series of “Oceans of Wisdom “(One Thousand Images of the Sea).