Katsushika Hokusai and ‘The Great Wave of Kanagawa’
I never get tir
ed of this image. It is exquisitely beautiful, otherworldly, but also perfect in its representation of the ocean and the land. I know it but it’s ‘not from here’. It’s the ocean in another place, another time, another culture, another way of seeing and knowing. I remember it often and find new inspiration in it each time I see it.
The Great Wave of Kangawa by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) is from a series of 36 paintings of Mount Fuji and lives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. I can’t wait to go and see it one day!
I’ve often thought of the ways that waves and mountains converge and link as shapes, objects and possibilities, and in the ways we imagine and experience them. The first time I moved out of home I was terrified of how I would manage to live away from the ocean, but I found solace in the snowy mountains of my new home. I recognised their form and the ways I moved amongst them – snow, rocks, trees, winds, challenges and rewards. Being in those places is always similar for me and this image reminds me of that.
kanagawa has heaps of great surf spots, bec. go check it out one day. i like to think hokusai got the idea for ‘the great wave’ while sitting at inamuragasaki, where a left reef fires in some typhoons. let’s see if i can dig up a pic from somewhere…
sorry bec, couldn’t find it even in the deepest hidden depths of my oldest hard drive. the magazine i scanned it from must be in a box at dad’s house. i’ll have a look next year. if you make it to japan in the meantime just make sure to swing by inamuragasaki and check out other parts of shonan if you can.
Next year…
Rebecca, when you say “I’ve often thought of the ways that waves and mountains converge and link as shapes, objects and possibilities, and in the ways we imagine and experience them” it reminds me of the halfdozen photo series at Dane P’s blog – called ‘watery goodness’ @ 13th June 2010
http://www.danepetersonphotography.com/blog/
thanks
i have a woodblock print of Inume Pass, no41 from the Mt Fuji Series. You make me think (although i do not know the geography) the horses could be carrying surfboards up over the hill, to the left lucky al is talking about. just like the waves we hope all tomorrows’ will bring. Hokusai exemplifies the dictum Bachelard valorises that ‘life is round’. In the rounded landscape that Hokusai weaves, a sense of place permeates the subject, resonant with the traumatic belonging our own landmarks seek to map. the wave turns as the globe turns on the sonorous hum of the world worlding. Mt Fuji stands as a synechdoche for all the comforts our bearings offer. each Mt Fuji Hokusai conjures in his kaleidoscopic meditations reveal the regular irregularity of the weather and the hue of place. such a familar landmark as Mt Fuji in the richness of various guises is also consonant with the familarity and richness of the seascapes and the waves we come to intimately know.
Gorgeous.
Bachelard ?dictum? synechdoche?
And here’s me thinking it was a rough for the Quiksilver logo.
Ever seen the Martin Sharp ,Boofhead/Hokusai?
yeah and the lin onus one is pretty sweet too
Lin Onus all the way.
Look at those clawing tendril like hands reaching out to take the lives of the poor sick sick souls huddled in their boats. Or is it the ocean itself reaching out in anguish ? And the boats ! So lacking in rocker, so long and straight. So out of place against the arc of the waves or are they ? Pete are these boats seaworthy ?
Now, imagine it’s the Tampa.
and Fuji-san as Mt Warning…
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/23_-_The_Sea_off_Satta.jpg