The Great Wave off Kanagawa

First print in the "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji" series and the most widely reproduced Japanese artwork in the world. Three oshiokuri-bune — fast cargo boats — are caught in a towering wave off the coast of Kanagawa, a snow-capped Mount Fuji visible small in the trough between crests. Notable for its early use of imported Prussian blue (bero-ai) and for the compositional play of natural force against the smallness of human effort. Surviving early-state impressions are held at the Met, British Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, Rijksmuseum, and elsewhere.