Off the coast of which modern Japanese prefecture does the wave occur?

The wave occurs off the coast of modern-day Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Hokusai’s Japanese title identifies the scene as being offshore from Kanagawa, a historic coastal area now associated with Yokohama.

The print’s title, Kanagawa-oki nami-ura, places the wave at sea near Kanagawa. The exact viewpoint is interpreted as being in or near present-day Tokyo Bay, looking toward Mount Fuji, rather than directly from a beach beneath the mountain.

Kanagawa was historically connected with Kanagawa-juku, a post station on the Tōkaidō road. In modern geography, Kanagawa Prefecture includes Yokohama, Kawasaki, Kamakura, and much of the Shōnan coastline. It lies south of Tokyo on Honshu.

The distractors can seem plausible because nearby Shizuoka also borders major coastal waters and contains Mount Fuji’s western surroundings, while Tokyo lies across the bay. But the location named by Hokusai’s title—and the standard quiz answer—is Kanagawa Prefecture.