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What Japanese Art Can Teach You About Courage
Hokusai and The Great Wave off Kanagawa.
Arguably the most famous Japanese art piece of all time, The Great Wave Off Kanagawa, was created during the Edo period around 1831.
The artist, Katsushika Hokusai, used wood blocks to fashion the masterpiece. It was the first in a series of artworks depicting Mt. Fuji. In this case, he most certainly did not save the best for last.
The style used is known as Ukiyo-e (pronounced Ukee-yo-ay), which loosely translates into “everyday life in Old Japan.”
Ukiyo-e started as a movement to create more pieces portraying common people and everyday themes. You can see that idea expressed here with the fishermen, who at one time, culturally were considered a step above eta, the lowest of Japanese classes.
In his seventies at the time, Hokusai had seen much of what the world had to offer. He had even studied artwork by Dutch and French artists.
Interestingly though, a large portion of his art was dedicated to his birthplace of Edo (modern-day Tokyo) and Mt. Fuji. The Great Wave is no different.
At first glance, the caps of the great waves appear like claws, reaching down to pluck the fishermen from their crafts and offer them to the god of the sea.
