Katsushika Hokusai · 1831 · Library of Congress
The Great Wave off Kanagawa
Hokusai's 1831 woodblock print, restored from the archive's own scan
Printed from the Library of Congress's own scan of an original impression — 8,561 pixels across — restored by hand and printed to order at 200 dpi or better in every size we offer.
From $35 on paper · $95 framed · 8 sizes to 40×30 in
- Made to order · ships in 2–4 days
- 30-day free replacement
- Never sold as an original
What most reproductions get wrong
Fuji is the small peak in the middle, not the wave
It is a Fuji picture
This is sheet one of Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. The mountain sits low and small at the centre, dwarfed by the wave — that inversion is the whole composition, and cropped reproductions throw it away.
Three boats, not none
Look under the crest: three oshiokuri-bune, fast cargo boats, with the crews flattened along the hulls. At 24 inches you can count the oarsmen. On a poster they disappear into blue.
Prussian blue, newly imported
Hokusai used bero-ai, imported Prussian blue, then barely a decade old in Japan and the reason the print looks nothing like earlier ukiyo-e. The restoration keeps that blue exactly where the impression has it.
If you like this one
Four that hang well beside it
Fine Wind Clear Morning (Red Fuji), 1831
Evening View of Fuji, 1830
Cranes and Waves, 1833
Glittering Sea (Hikaru Umi), 1926
Gallery wall sets pairs them at one size and one frame finish.
Questions
Is this an original Hokusai woodblock print?
No, and we would never say it was. An original 1830s impression is a museum object worth five or six figures. This is a new archival print made from the Library of Congress’s own scan of an original impression, restored by hand and printed to order — honestly labelled, with the archive record on the page.
Why does it look better than the £10 poster of the same picture?
Because of the file. The Library of Congress scan is 8,561 pixels wide. A poster shop prints a web-sized JPEG enlarged until Hokusai’s key-block outline goes soft; at 40×30 in ours is still over 200 dpi, so the woodgrain in the block, the bokashi gradation in the sky and the flecks of mica in the foam all survive.
What is actually in the picture?
Kanagawa oki nami ura — "Under the wave off Kanagawa" — the first sheet of Hokusai’s Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, published in Edo by Nishimuraya Yohachi around 1831. Three oshiokuri-bune boats run beneath the wave; Fuji is the small snow-capped peak at the centre, not the wave. That is the joke of the composition, and most reproductions crop it out.
What sizes and finishes?
8 sizes up to 40×30 in, on archival matte paper, stretched canvas, or framed in solid wood — black, natural oak or white, with a 2 in white mat, acrylic front and hanging hardware fitted. From $35 on paper, $95 framed.
How long does it take?
Printed to order in 2–4 business days and shipped from a facility in or near your country. US orders over $75 ship free, and there is a 30-day free replacement if it arrives damaged or wrong.