Japan: ‘Behind the Great Wave at Kanagawa’—often known as ‘Tsunami’—by Katsushika Hokusai, c.1823-9.

This woodcut is from Hokusai’s series of woodblock prints titled ’36 Views of Mount Fuji’.

Hokusai (1760-1849) was first and foremost a ‘ukiyo-e’ (floating world) painter of the Edo period. In this woodcut, he shows Mount Fuji in the background. The raging waves in this illustration are often mistakenly called ‘tsunami’; however, as the waves are offshore, they are more correctly known in Japanese as ‘okinami’.

A tsunami caused by an offshore 8.9 magnitude earthquake devastated northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011. Thousands of people were killed, and nuclear power plants were damaged, leading to widespread fears of radiation poisoning in the region.

Copyright:

Supplier: CPA Media Co. Ltd.

Credit:

Pictures From History

Theme:

FLOATING WORLD